Calque 仿譯詞 (仿译词)

fǎngyìcí · from French

What is a calque?

A calque is a loan translation: a phrase borrowed by translating its parts literally, like Chinese 熱狗 règǒu for hot dog.

Unlike loanwords, calques use native words. Chinese prefers calques and meaning-based coinages to phonetic borrowing. English long time no see and lose face are widely said to be calques of Chinese 好久不見 and 丟臉, though the first is debated.

Examples

熱狗 règǒu (hot dog); 摩天樓 mótiānlóu (skyscraper); 足球 zúqiú (football); English lose face from 丟臉 diūliǎn; long time no see, often linked to 好久不見 hǎojiǔ bújiàn

Kungfucius says: Chinese looked at hot dog, translated it word for word, and has been eating 熱狗 ever since.