白话 (bái huà) — to talk nonsense; to speak idly or without substance

Definition

Spoken sense: to talk idly or babble nonsense. Note: this verb meaning differs from 文言 — it is not the language-style noun 'vernacular Chinese' but an informal 'talk rubbish' usage.

verb
to talk nonsenseto speak idly or without substance
Easily confused

Examples

  • ，白话。
    Nǐ bié tīng tā de, tā zǒng ài bái huà.
    Don't listen to him — he always talks nonsense.
  • 白话。
    Tā hē le diǎn jiǔ jiù kāi shǐ xiā bái huà.
    After drinking a little, he started babbling nonsense.
  • 白话，。
    Bié bái huà le, kuài shuō zhèng shì.
    Stop talking nonsense and get to the point.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

白báiempty
话huàspeech

白 and 话 combine to mean empty speech without substance.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

白 is thought to picture either an acorn or a human head.

Open 白 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 話; 话 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánword
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠯑
𠯑𠯑話huà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 話, 言 relates to words and 𠯑 gives the sound; the simplified 话 is a shorthand, so its right side is not that sound part.

Open 话 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.