Literary and colloquial readings 文白異讀 (文白异读)
wénbái yìdú · from Chinese
What are literary and colloquial readings in Chinese?
Literary and colloquial readings are two pronunciations of the same Chinese character: a formal reading from book learning and an everyday spoken one.
Southern Chinese varieties, especially Hokkien, often have a literary layer borrowed from prestige reading traditions and an older colloquial layer. The same character may sound completely different in a place name, a classical text and a market conversation. Mandarin has traces too, such as 白 bái vs literary bó.
Examples
Taiwanese Hokkien 大: literary tāi (大學 tāi-ha̍k, university) vs colloquial tuā (big); Mandarin 血 xuè (literary) vs xiě (colloquial)
Kungfucius says: Hokkien characters lead a double life: one for the classroom, one for the night market.