Clarifying Chinese Characters

Mandarin Chinese has many written characters which sound the

 same. Sometimes it is not clear which character or meaning the 

speaker is using.

When clarification is needed, Chinese characters can be explained

 with this pattern: XY de X, where X is the character being 

explained, and XY is a common compound which uses that character.

 Characters can also be clarified by putting them in a commonly 

used phrase.

This type of clarification is especially useful for names, since it is 

usually not evident which characters are used to write a 

person’s name.

Clarification Examples

Wǒ de míngzi shì …
My name is…
我的名字是…

Xǔ Míng Fú – yán wǔ xǔ, rì yuè míng, fúqì de fú
許明福 – 言午許, 日月明, 福氣的福

Lín Píng Quán - shuāng mù lín, píngān de ping, quánlì

de quán
林平權 - 雙木林, 平安的平, 權力的權

Xú Bǎo Chuān - shuāng rén xú, zhūbǎo de bǎo, hé

chuān de chuān
徐寶川 - 雙人徐, 珠寶的寶, 河川的川

Learn To Clarify Your Chinese Name

If you have a Chinese name, you should learn how to clarify it in this 

manner. You will need the help of a native Mandarin speaker to choose 

a clarification that is understandable.