In the sea of Chinese words, there is a group of words that you really need to know and use. They are so well shaped and easy to remember. They are so musical that they can make your Chinese expressions sound more rhyming and interesting.

Then what are they? I wanna give them a cute name of “double double ” on this Learn Mandarin online blog just like your everyday coffee or hamburger order :-). That is because they are a pair of doubled characters plus another pair of doubled characters, that’s why they are “double double “.

You might have popped out a few such words in your mind by now, if you haven’t, no worries, I’ll show you soon :

fēn fēn hé hé

分分合合 (on again off again)

In this very first example, 分 and 合 are two opposite characters. 分 means “depart” and 合 means “reunite”. If we echo each of them and combine into a new word 分分合合, it refers to the repetitive occurrence of the phenomena – departure and reuniting. Usually it refers to the relationship between two lovers, or a couple, or a family. Let’s have a look at following sentence then you’ll get a feel of it :

    rénshēng zǒngshì miǎnbùliǎo fēn fēn hé hé。

    人生总是免不了分分合合。
    Life is full of departures and reunitings.

 

    tāmen liǎ yǐjīng fēn fēn hé hé hěn duōcì le。

    他们俩已经分分合合很多次了。

    They’ve been on again off again for so many times.

There are quite a few Chinese words that echo two opposite characters to describe the repetition of a certain phenomena. Aside from 分分合合, we also know the following:

zhēn zhēn jiǎ jiǎ

真真假假 (the true and the faking)

 

duō duō shǎo shǎo

多多少少 (more or less)

 

At the same time, similar characters can also be echoed into “double double”. For example:

duǒ duǒ shǎn shǎn

躲躲闪闪 (evasive)

 

cháng cháng jiǔ jiǔ

长长久久 (long and stable)

 

qí qí guài guài

奇奇怪怪 (weird)

 

Do you know any “double double” Chinese words in your vocabulary? Welcome to share with me and other readers here in your comment.

Good night, my friends!