Wintersweet is not a plum, broccoli is not a flower, and the X on your ID card is not a cross…

Review expert: Wei Deyong, member of Shenzhen Writers Association, Guangdong

On social platforms, careful netizens may find that some people call it "broccoli" while others use "citrus broccoli" ; some people say "winter plum" while others write "wax plum". Most people may confuse these words. Are you also confused now? Today, let's take a look at the words that have been used incorrectly over the years!

Broccoli or broccoli?

Both words can be found in authoritative reference books. In the 6th edition of the Modern Chinese Dictionary, there is no "西荷花", only "西蓝花", which is explained as "绿菜花", a variant of cabbage. On the contrary, the 6th edition of the Cihai dictionary only includes "西荷花", which is explained as "青花菜", also known as "绿菜花" and "干菜菜", but does not include "西荷花".

Oh my god! The husband has his own reasons, and the wife has her own reasons. So is it "broccoli" or "citrus"?

If we break down the three words "broccoli", "Xi" indicates that it is introduced from a foreign country and is not a native of China; "Lan" refers to cabbage, because it is a plant of the Brassica species of the genus Brassica in the family Cruciferae, and it can also refer to the "blue" color; "Hua" refers to the flower buds.

The "orchid" refers to a plant species that has nothing to do with broccoli, nor does it refer to its color. In this way, "broccoli" should be more scientific and reasonable.

Why do so many people write “西菜”? It may be because they want to simplify the writing of Chinese characters. The character “蓝” has more strokes, while the character “兰” has fewer strokes, which saves time and effort.

Wintersweet or wintersweet?

"Wax plum" is a shrub of the family Chimonanthus. It is named after its flowers that resemble beeswax, hence the word "wax". "Wax" originally means a substance produced by animals, plants or minerals, and it describes the yellow plant characteristics of wax plum flowers. The authoritative botanical book "Flora of China" also uses "Wax plum" as its only Chinese name.

Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica records: "This plant is not originally a plum, but it is named because it grows at the same time as plum, has a similar fragrance, and is colored like beeswax." From this, we can see that "wax plum" does not belong to plum blossoms . Winter plums belong to the genus Chimonanthus of the family Chimonaceae, while plum blossoms belong to the genus Prunus of the family Rosaceae. Winter plums bloom in the dead of winter when all other flowers wither, fighting the cold and frost, not only bringing bursts of fragrance to people, but also giving people spiritual enlightenment. However, because its flowering season is in the cold winter, it is often mistakenly written as "wax plum".

Don’t make any more mistakes!

Little-known facts about Chinese characters!

In real life, in addition to these commonly used characters that are easy to confuse, there are many rare characters that you can also learn about! For example, three fire "嫣" , four "又" , three fish "鱻", etc....

Three "又" : "叒" is pronounced as "ruò", which was the same as "若" in ancient times, meaning: smooth, and similar ways.

Four "又": "叕" is a polyphone. When pronounced as "zhuó", it can mean "attachment", or short or insufficient; when pronounced as "jué", it means the same as "speed"; when pronounced as "lì", it means "stop" or "tie"; when pronounced as "yǐ", it describes the appearance of a net.

(Now you know how to pronounce “又双叒叕”!)

Three fires : "嫣" is the same as "艳", pronounced "yàn", which means sparks and flames.

Four fires : "燚" is pronounced "yì", which describes the violent burning of fire, and is also extended to mean prosperity.

Three fish : "鱻", "xiān", same as "鲜", originally refers to raw fish, used to describe the freshness and deliciousness of food.

Three horses : "骉" is pronounced "biāo", which describes the appearance of many horses galloping.

.......

There are many such triple and quadruple characters, all representing different meanings. Isn’t it interesting?

By the way, let me ask you how to pronounce the "X" on your ID card? Do you just call it "chā"? In fact, it represents the Roman numeral "10", and it is most appropriately pronounced as shí. Isn't this another piece of strange trivia?

Chinese characters are a broad and profound culture. Every stroke contains the wonderful wisdom of the Chinese people. What rare characters do you know? Come and share them~