matter / thing / item / work / affair / CL: 件, 樁｜桩, 回

to make; to produce / to write; to compose / to do; to engage in; to hold (a party etc) / (of a person) to be (an intermediary, a good student etc); to become (husband and wife, friends etc) / (of a thing) to serve as; to be used for / to assume (an air or manner)

thing / stuff / person / CL: 個｜个, 件

thing; object / CL: 個｜个

name (of a person or thing) / CL: 個｜个

affair; matter; thing; business / CL: 件, 樁｜桩

name (of a thing) / name (of an organization)

interest (desire to know about sth) / interest (thing in which one is interested); hobby / CL: 個｜个

good action, deed, thing or work (also sarcastic, "a fine thing indeed") / charity / happy occasion / Daoist or Buddhist ceremony for the souls of the dead

egg / CL: 個｜个, 打 / oval-shaped thing

to see (the same thing) over and over again / to see, to one's surprise, (sth happen suddenly)

only have ...; there is only ... / (used in combination with 才) it is only if ... (that one can ...) (as in 只有通過治療才能痊愈｜只有通过治疗才能痊愈 "the only way to cure it is with therapy") / it is only (someone) who ... (as in 只有男性才有此需要 "only men would have such a requirement") / (used to express lack of alternatives) can only; have no choice but to (as in 只有屈服 "the only thing you can do is give in")

silk / thread-like thing; (cuisine) shreds or julienne strips / classifier: a trace (of smoke etc), a tiny bit etc

way of looking at a thing / view / opinion / CL: 個｜个

first of the ten Heavenly Stems 十天干 / (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 system (old) / ancient Chinese compass point: 75°

solely engrossed in one thing / just (one thing, no need to worry about the rest) / simply / by all means / please feel free / do not hesitate (to ask for sth)

back of neck / item / thing / term (in a mathematical formula) / sum (of money) / classifier for principles, items, clauses, tasks, research projects etc

at dawn / at first light / first thing in the morning

to realize; to be aware of; to feel that; to be conscious of (sth relating to oneself) / responsible; predisposed to do the right thing; considerate of others

gun / firearm / rifle / spear / thing with shape or function similar to a gun / CL: 支, 把, 桿｜杆, 條｜条, 枝 / to substitute for another person in a test / to knock / classifier for rifle shots

son / child / seed / egg / small thing / 1st earthly branch: 11 p.m.–1 a.m., midnight, 11th solar month (7th December to 5th January), year of the rat / viscount, fourth of five orders of nobility 五等爵位 / ancient Chinese compass point: 0° (north) / subsidiary; subordinate; (prefix) sub-

pot; pan; wok; cauldron / pot-shaped thing / CL: 口, 隻｜只

one and the same (thing) / one thing (as distinct from another)

entity / substance / thing that has a material existence (as opposed to a conceptual, virtual or online existence) / the real thing (as opposed to an image or model of it)

for a particular person, occasion, purpose / focused on one thing / special / expert / particular (to sth) / concentrated / specialized

material object / concrete object / original object / in kind / object for practical use / definite thing / reality / matter (physics)

head / chief / first (occasion, thing etc) / classifier for poems, songs etc

bad thing; misdeed / to ruin things

to entrust (to sb) / to place (one's hope, energy etc) in / a thing in which one invests (one's hope, energy etc)

the best policy / the best thing one can do in the circumstances

(archaic) agate / (bound form) standard weight used with a balance scale / number / (computing) code / (clothing) size / yard (unit of length) / (coll.) kilometers per hour (informal misuse of "yard" to mean kph in speed references) / (coll.) to pile up; to stack / classifier for matters, items, situations etc (esp. when indicating whether they are the same or different, as in 不是一碼事｜不是一码事 "not the same thing") / (Tw, HK) (finance) unit of 25 basis points (i.e. a 0.25% change in interest rate)

(idiom) a thing should not be attempted more than three times; don't repeat the same mistake again and again / (idiom) bad things don't happen more than three times

completely secure / a sure thing / rest assured

(bound form) thing / (literary) the outside world as distinct from oneself; people other than oneself

a treasure; a rare and valuable thing

to recount / to tell of / to relate / (fig.) (of a thing) to stand as testament to (some past history)

lit. secretly crossing the Wei River 渭河 at Chencang (idiom, refers to a stratagem used by Liu Bang 劉邦｜刘邦 in 206 BC against Xiang Yu 項羽｜项羽 of Chu) / fig. to feign one thing while doing another / to cheat under cover of a diversion

there is no such thing as a free lunch (idiom)

(idiom) to pass off the fake as genuine; to blur the line between fake and real so convincingly that the fake is mistaken for the real thing

trivial matter / trifle / annoying thing

of the thirty-six stratagems, the best option is to flee (idiom) / the best thing to do is leave

not to worry about the gossip (idiom); to do the right thing regardless of what others say

another one is ...; the other thing is ...

lit. to put Zhang's hat on Li's head / to attribute sth to the wrong person (idiom) / to confuse one thing with another

gossip is a fearful thing (idiom)

(idiom) dubious; shady; neither one thing nor the other; neither fish nor fowl; nondescript

amused by even the weakest joke / ready to laugh at the smallest thing

(literary) the people / living thing / creature

fact / actual thing / practical matter

to err / to make a mistake / to do the wrong thing

heart and mouth at variance (idiom); keeping one's real intentions to oneself / saying one thing but meaning sth different

that one / that thing / that (as opposed to this) / (used before a verb or adjective for emphasis) / (used to humorously or indirectly refer to sth embarrassing, funny etc, or when one can't think of the right word) / (used in speech as a filler, similar to "umm", "you know" etc) / (euph.) menstruation / sex / also pr. [nei4 ge5]

equally true for (all the rest) / the same thing applies (for everyone)

lit. repair the plank road by day while secretly crossing the Wei River 渭河 at Chencang (idiom, refers to a stratagem used by Liu Bang 劉邦｜刘邦 in 206 BC against Xiang Yu 項羽｜项羽 of Chu) / fig. to feign one thing while doing another / to cheat under cover of a diversion

toy / plaything / thing / act / trick (in a performance, stage show, acrobatics etc)

(idiom) to imagine the wildest thing; to indulge in fantasy

tiny / very small / tiny thing / small child / baby

before the first wave subsides, a new wave rises (idiom); a new problem arises before the old is solved / many twists and turns to a story / one thing after another

necessity / essential (thing)

(coll.) thing / item / stuff

that was one thing, and this is another / times have changed

a sure thing / a certainty / copy of a contract held by a creditor

(the 3rd part of a 3-part construction: 非 + (noun) + 莫屬｜莫属, meaning "to be none other than (noun); would have to be (noun)") (this construction comes after a description of a person or thing that has a certain attribute)

(slang) (adjective) (of one thing) one of the only two; (of two things) the only two

flawless piece of jade / (fig.) perfect person or thing / virgin / to return sth intact

fart / flatulence / nonsense / (usu. in the negative) what / (not) a damn thing

first thing in the morning / at daybreak

both; together (used to indicate that two people or things do the same thing simultaneously)

(Tw) (coll.) matter; thing (from Taiwanese, Tai-lo pr. [tāi-tsì], equivalent to Mandarin 事情)

current favorite; the latest thing; darling (of the market or the media etc)

lit. to attend to one thing and lose sight of another (idiom) / fig. to be unable to manage two or more things at once / cannot pay attention to one thing without neglecting the other

to mix up / to confuse one thing with another

where do these words stem from? / why do you (he, etc) say such a thing?

there is no gain without a loss (idiom) / there is no such thing as a free meal

damn thing / (not one's) goddamn business

to make do in difficult circumstances by being resourceful / (of circumstances) difficult / challenging / (of a budget) tight / (of a man-made thing) makeshift / rough and ready

lit. to hear one and know ten (idiom); fig. explain one thing and (he) understands everything / a word to the wise

(Cantonese) thing / matter / stuff

outside appearance and inner reality differ (idiom); not what it seems / saying one thing but meaning sth different

lit. to breathe through the same nostril (idiom); fig. two people say exactly the same thing (usually derog.) / to sing from the same hymn sheet

lit. just the right flavor / just right / just the thing / excellent

sth else / a separate matter / not the same thing / with different jobs (not colleagues) / a remarkable thing / sth special / an odd thing / sth strange or incomprehensible

lit. to graft flowers onto a tree (idiom) / fig. to surreptitiously substitute one thing for another

in the first moments (of sth happening) / immediately (after an event) / first thing

to say sth without meaning it (idiom); to speak tongue in cheek / saying one thing but meaning sth different

your lips say one thing, but your body language reveals what you really think (four-character version of 口嫌體正直｜口嫌体正直)

to unwittingly write the wrong thing

lifeblood / the thing that one cherishes most in life / (coll.) family jewels (male genitals)

main part / torso / the thing in itself / noumenon (object of purely intellectual perception according to Kant)

precious thing / treasure / culinary delicacy / rare / valuable / to value highly

afraid of the head, terrified of the tail (idiom); ever fearful and nervous / afraid of the slightest thing

awesome (expression of approval used hypocritically after bitching about the exact same thing earlier) (neologism c. 2014)

a good thing doesn't last forever (idiom)

dirty soil / dung and dirt / (fig.) worthless thing

strange thing / curious occurrence

to keep doing (the wrong thing)

to settle for second best / the next best thing

pot; pan; wok; cauldron / pot-shaped thing / hotpot

to be the most ridiculous thing in the world (idiom)

this is no small thing (idiom) / to have a serious matter at hand