| 被 | bèi | quilt / to cover (with) / (literary) to suffer (a misfortune) / used to indicate passive voice (placed before the doer of the action like "by" in English passive-voice sentences, or, if the doer is not mentioned, before the verb) / (since c. 2009) (sarcastic or jocular) used to indicate that the following word should be regarded as being in air quotes (as in 被旅遊|被旅游[bei4 lu : 3 you2] to "go on a trip") |
| 乙 | yǐ | second of the ten Heavenly Stems 十天干[shi2 tian1 gan1] / second in order / letter "B" or Roman "II" in list "A, B, C", or "I, II, III" etc / second party (in legal contract, usually 乙方[yi3 fang1], as opposed to 甲方[jia3 fang1]) / ethyl / bent / winding / radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 5) / ancient Chinese compass point: 105° |
| 儒家 | Rú jiā | Confucian school, founded by Confucius 孔子[Kong3 zi3] (551-479 BC) and Mencius 孟子[Meng4 zi3] (c. 372-c. 289 BC) |
| 甲 | jiǎ | first of the ten Heavenly Stems 十天干[shi2 tian1 gan1] / (used for an unspecified person or thing) / first (in a list, as a party to a contract etc) / letter "A" or roman "I" in list "A, B, C", or "I, II, III" etc / armor plating / shell or carapace / (of the fingers or toes) nail / bladed leather or metal armor (old) / ranking system used in the Imperial examinations (old) / civil administration unit in the baojia 保甲[bao3 jia3] system (old) / ancient Chinese compass point: 75° |
| 内卷 | nèi juǎn | (embryology) to involute; involution / (neologism c. 2017) (of a society) to become more and more of a rat race; to become increasingly competitive (due to limited resources) |
| 花木兰 | Huā Mù lán | Hua Mulan, legendary woman warrior (c. fifth century), Northern dynasties folk hero recorded in Sui and Tang literature |
| 陶渊明 | Táo Yuān míng | Tao Yuanming (c. 365-427), Jin dynasty writer and poet |
| 老子 | Lǎo zǐ | Laozi or Lao-tze (c. 500 BC), Chinese philosopher, the founder of Taoism / the sacred book of Daoism, 道德經|道德经[Dao4 de2 jing1] by Laozi |
| 佛系 | fó xì | (neologism c. 2017) (coll.) chill about everything (typically used to describe young people who don't buy into aspirational society) |
| C位 | C wèi | (neologism, c. 2015) (coll.) most prominent position (e.g. in a group photo of entertainers) (loanword from "carry" or "center" or "core") |
| C盘 | C pán | C drive or default startup drive (computing) |
| 夏 | Xià | the Xia or Hsia dynasty c. 2000 BC / Xia of the Sixteen Kingdoms (407–432) / surname Xia |
| 吃瓜群众 | chī guā qún zhòng | peanut gallery (esp. in online forums) / onlookers who are interested in the spectacle but don't have anything knowledgeable to say about it / (neologism c. 2016) |
| 孙子 | Sūn zǐ | Sun Tzu, also known as Sun Wu 孫武|孙武[Sun1 Wu3] (c. 500 BC, dates of birth and death uncertain), general, strategist and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period (700-475 BC), believed to be the author of the “Art of War” 孫子兵法|孙子兵法[Sun1 zi3 Bing1 fa3], one of the Seven Military Classics of ancient China 武經七書|武经七书[Wu3 jing1 Qi1 shu1] |
| 商 | Shāng | Shang Dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC) / surname Shang |
| 三级 | sān jí | grade 3 / third class / category C |
| 打扰了 | dǎ rǎo le | sorry to interrupt you, but ... / sorry to have bothered you / sorry, I have to go / (slang) (coined c. 2017) used facetiously to terminate a conversation (esp. online) when the other person is being insufferable |
| 华佗 | Huà Tuó | Hua Tuo (c. 145–208), physician of the Eastern Han dynasty |
| 静默 | jìng mò | silent; still; quiet / to mourn in silence; to observe silence / (neologism c. 2022) to stay at home during a pandemic |
| 大白 | dà bái | to be revealed / to come out (of the truth) / chalk (for whitening walls) / (old) wine cup / (neologism c. 2021) healthcare worker or volunteer in full-body PPE (esp. during the COVID-19 pandemic) (from the 2014 Disney version of the Marvel Comics character Baymax, whose Chinese name is 大白) |
| 鸟嘌呤 | niǎo piào lìng | guanine nucleotide (G, pairs with cytosine C 胞嘧啶 in DNA and RNA) |
| 托勒玫 | Tuō lè méi | Ptolemy or Claudius Ptolemaeus (c. 90-c. 168), Alexandrian Greek astronomer, mathematician and geographer, author of the Almagest 天文學大成|天文学大成 / see also 托勒密[Tuo1 le4 mi4] |
| 国语 | Guó yǔ | Chinese language (Mandarin), emphasizing its national nature / Chinese as a primary or secondary school subject / Chinese in the context of the Nationalist Government / Guoyu, book of historical narrative c. 10th-5th century BC |
| 丙型 | bǐng xíng | type C / type III / gamma- |
| 战国末 | zhàn guó mò | late Warring States period, c. 250-221 BC before the First Emperor's Qin Dynasty |