"Rather" • Chinese-English Dictionary

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 wèi miǎn unavoidably / can't help / really / rather
 pō rather / quite / considerably / oblique / inclined / slanting / Taiwan pr. [po3]
 ér shì rather
 yǒu yī xiē somewhat / rather / some
 pō wéi rather / quite
 pō jù rather / quite / to have much
 jiào to compare / to dispute / compared to / (before adj.) relatively / comparatively / rather / also pr. [jiao3]
 jiào bǐ comparatively (colloquial) / fairly / quite / rather / relatively
 zhe ne comes at the end of the sentence to indicate a strong degree / quite / rather
 mín jiān among the people / popular / folk / non-governmental / involving people rather than governments
 yǔ qí rather than... / 與其|与其[yu3 qi2] A 不如[bu4 ru2] B (rather than A, better to B)
 nìng yuàn would rather / better
 nìng kě preferably / one would prefer to...(or not to...) / would rather / (would) be better to / (to pick) the lesser of two evils
 jì shí record of actual events / documentary (factual rather than fictional)
 jiào chà mediocre / rather poor / not specially good
 qíng yuàn willingness / would rather (agree to X than Y)
 bù jiǎn dān not simple / rather complicated / remarkable / marvelous
 xiě yì to suggest (rather than depict in detail) / freehand style of Chinese painting, characterized by bold strokes rather than accurate details
 huǎng ruò as if / as though / rather like
 huǎng rú to be as if... / to be rather like...
 shǒu zhū dài tù lit. to guard a tree-stump, waiting for rabbits (idiom) / to wait idly for opportunities / to trust to chance rather than show initiative
 nìng kěn would rather... / it would be better... / would prefer
 wú nìng not as good as / would rather
 shāng pǐn liáng commodity grain (grain produced as a commodity rather than for self-sufficiency)
 xū suì one's age, according to the traditional Chinese method of reckoning (i.e. the number of Chinese calendar years in which one has lived) &ndash / In this system, a person's age at birth is one, and increases by one at the beginning of the first solar term 立春[Li4 chun1] each year, rather than on one's birthday. / contrasted with 實歲|实岁[shi2 sui4]
 nìng would rather / to prefer / how (emphatic) / Taiwan pr. [ning2]
 nìng sǐ bù qū rather die than submit (idiom)
 fǎn qiú zhū jǐ to seek the cause in oneself rather than sb else
 míng cóng zhǔ rén (idiom) to refer to sth by the name its owners use / to refer to a place by the name its inhabitants use (e.g. refer to Seoul as 首爾|首尔[Shou3 er3] rather than 漢城|汉城[Han4 cheng2])
 shě shēng qǔ yì to give up life for righteousness (idiom, from Mencius) / to choose honor over life / would rather sacrifice one's life than one's principles
 kuà xià zhī rǔ lit. the humiliation of having to crawl between the legs of one's adversary (as Han Xin 韓信|韩信[Han2 Xin4] supposedly did rather than engage in a sword fight) (idiom) / fig. utter humiliation
 shì de seems as if / rather like / Taiwan pr. [si4 de5]
 dīng chǒng jiā tíng double income family who have pets rather than children (see also 丁克[ding1 ke4])
 bù yǐ rén fèi yán not to reject a word because of the speaker (idiom, from Analects) / to judge on the merits of the case rather than preference between advisers
 bù qiú yǒu gōng , dàn qiú wú guò lit. not aiming to achieve the best possible result, but rather trying to avoid making mistakes (idiom) / fig. to take a risk-averse approach
 yǐ rén fèi yán to reject a word because of the speaker (idiom, from Analects) / to judge on preference between advisers rather than the merits of the case
 diào píng zú "infusion clan", patients who prefer medication by drip rather than orally or by injection etc
 nìng zuǒ wù yòu (of one's political views) to prefer left rather than right (idiom during the Cultural Revolution)
 gē bo zhǒu cháo wài guǎi lit. the elbow turns outward (idiom) / fig. to side with outsiders rather than one's own people
退 lín yuān xiàn yú bù rú tuì ér jié wǎng rather than admiring fish, go home and weave a net
 dú pò to read extensively and thoroughly / nonstandard pronunciation of a Chinese character, e.g. the reading [hao4] in 愛好|爱好[ai4 hao4] rather than the usual [hao3]
 yùn shū rime dictionary (ancient type of Chinese dictionary that collates characters by tone and rhyme rather than by radical)
 xùn dú a reading of a written Chinese word derived from a synonym (typically, a vernacular synonym) (e.g. in Mandarin, 投子[tou2 zi5] may be pronounced as its synonym 色子[shai3 zi5], and in Wu dialects, 二 / is pronounced as its synonym 兩|两 / "liahn") / to pronounce a word using such a reading / (Japanese linguistics) kun-reading, a pronunciation of a kanji derived from a native Japanese word that matches its meaning rather than from the pronunciation of the character in a Sinitic language at the time it was imported from China (Note: A kun-reading of a character is distinguished from its on-reading(s) 音讀|音读[yin1 du2]. For example, 山 / has a kun-reading "yama" and an on-reading "san".)
 Yē lu:4 Chǔ cái Yelü / Chucai (1190-1244), Khitan statesman and advisor to Genghis Khan and Ögödei Khan, known for convincing the Mongols to tax the conquered population of the north China plains rather than slaughter it
 cháng tòng bù rú duǎn tòng better to just get the pain over with, rather than prolong the agony
 bù huàn guǎ ér huàn bù jūn do not worry about scarcity, but rather about uneven distribution (idiom, from Analects)
 yuān jiā yí jiě bù yí jié It is better to squash enmity rather than keeping it alive (proverb)
 nìng zuò jī tóu , bù zuò fèng wěi lit. would rather be a chicken's head than a phoenix's tail (idiom) / fig. to prefer to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond
 zì yóu xíng travel organized by oneself rather than in a tour group
 shì sǐ bù cóng to vow to die rather than obey (idiom)
 zhòng yì qīng lì to value righteousness rather than material gain (idiom)
 tóu tòng yī tóu , jiǎo tòng yī jiǎo to treat the symptoms rather than getting to the root of the problem (proverb) / reactive (rather than proactive)
 níng chāi shí zuò miào , bù huì yī zhuāng hūn rather destroy ten temples than a single marriage (idiom)
 màn bàn pāi (music) a half-beat behind / (fig.) rather slow (in performing a task, comprehending etc)
 zhōng yāng kōng tiáo central air conditioning / (fig.) (neologism) ladies' man (contrasted with 暖男[nuan3 nan2], a guy who is attentive to his partner rather than to all and sundry)
 shì jiān (neologism) to leer / to stare lecherously / to follow the social media posts of sb who would rather you stay out of their life / (orthographic borrowing from Japanese 視姦 / "shikan")
 wèi wǔ dǒu mǐ zhé yāo (allusion to Tao Qian 陶潛|陶潜[Tao2 Qian2], who used this phrase when he resigned from government service rather than show subservience to a visiting inspector) to bow and scrape for five pecks of rice (that being a part of his salary as a local magistrate) / (fig.) to compromise one's principles for the sake of a salary
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