Yeah! Thread revival! That one's pretty cool, yeah.

I recently learned "隐形眼镜". "Hidden glasses". Contact lenses! Entering it into nciku gives you the useful sentence "我正在尝试不用手来取出隐形眼镜": "I was trying to pick up my contact lenses without using my hands."

Hi orangina

聊天 reminds me of "侃大山" （kan3 da4shan1）, which also means "chat" in Chinese. I hear it's originally a Beijing dialect phrase. Be careful not to take 砍(kan3, chop)大山 for 侃大山, hehe.

I just learned 聊天. Literally talk weather... chat. Not quite as good as 脑袋 or 水龙头, but I think a good one.

Hey all, I found another word I really like. 刺客 (cìkè). "Stabbing guest": assassin. Something about that really rocks.

Also, great contributions everyone. I especially dug Tal_'s "water dragon head". Brilliant.

I can't resist mentioning that there's a Chinesepod lesson about that spear-shield story mentioned by bodawei. It's called A Chinese-Style Contradiction.

Great posts.Some beauties silktown.This is why I love etymology.I just learnt that 望 which shows the moon radical on the top right originally depiced a person gazing up at the moon giving the character the dual meanings of gazing into the distance and also hoping,but the rest of the character has apparently changed over time.

I wonder if there is a hidden meaning behind the chinese name of the japanese brand HELLO KITTY :

凯蒂猫 (victorious in battle + "grass emperor" + cat)

(PICTURE)

Here's a brilliant "opposites" word that Western financial gurus like to point out: crisis = 危机 wéi jī = danger + opportunity. Yes!... (but do Chinese people think of it like that?).

While we're talking about opposites, what's the Chinese for oxymoron? Google Translate gives 反比 fǎn bǐ - oppose + together. Nice, but I like the English (well, Greek) = sharp + dull/foolish.

Thanks for 矛盾 máodùn - spear + shield = contradiction, Bodawei, I'd completely forgotten that story.

Words made from opposite characters are neat, but aren't characters made from opposing elements even neater? I can think of:

尖 jiān = point(ed),sharp - from big to little. 

友 you3 = friend, left hand and right hand together (but, according to Zhongwen.com, this used to be two right hands).

災 zai1 = disaster. Fire under a roof in the simplified version, but river and fire in the traditional.

Others?

Hello Changye,

I was hoping for you to comment on this one ;-). Actually I have no scientific proof for my theory, last week asked my teacher how the word originated and this is what che came up with. I liked it, but also like your explanation. One thing is for sure: it is fascinating!

(plus the fact that I buy too many dongxi...)

hehe,yeah I love that story but I didn't somehow pick up the word 矛盾 so thanks for that bodawei.

My favourite word comprised of 'opposites' is 

矛盾 máodùn (verb and noun: contradict and contradiction)

There is an old story about a spear and shield vendor who claims that his shields cannot be penetrated by any spear, and that his spears will smash any shield. 

矛 máo (spear) 

盾 dùn (shield)

Hi chanelle77

I also think the "wood/metal" etymology of "东西" is very attractive. Actually there is still no universally accepted etymology of "东西". Some say it's originated in "东市场/西市场" (East/West market), others say it's a shortend form of "东南西北", which implies that commodities comes from many places. Interestingly, the original meanings of the characters "东" and "西" are "basket", which is also not an accepted theory, but in this case it seems that "东西 = goods" really makes sense. God knows!

Hi silktown

Great job! Here are some other "made from two opposites" words,

长短 (chang2duan3) length
是非 (shi4fei1) squabble
是否 (shi4fou3) if

The word 东西 originates from the 5 element system and / or feng shui. Where the direction 东 refers to wood and 西 to metal. So wood/metal = thing!

(This is my favorite Chinese word, if one can have one :-) )

I like the words made from two opposites:

东西 dong1xi1 "east west" = thing, stuff
大小 da4xiao3 "big little" = size
买卖 mai3mai4 "buy sell" = (do) business
多少 duo1shao3 "many few" = how many? how much?

There must be lots more of these wonderful pairings? Could someone post some more, please?

袋鼠  dai4shu3 = "bag rat" = kangaroo

My (Chinese) students always laugh their socks off when I teach them the word tap, (meaning the thing that water comes out of, faucet in US English) and then follow it up by saying...

...in Chinese "water dragon head" - 水龙头.

No? Really no?

BUT you said above: If the loan words manage to keep both sound AND meaning, then they're extra impressive and awesome.

Another one

You may find REALLY, and I mean REALLY, AWESOME

馬桶   mǎtǒng   "horse - bucket"

which in fact is a toilet bowl.

No.

simonpettersson said:

... words like 巧克力 (qiǎokèlì, chocolate). They are not awesome. They suck.

Seems you didn't understand the "smaller lexical parts" of 巧克力:

clever - be able - strength

Isn't it clever, that eating chocolate gives you strength and better ability?

安全套 (an1quan2tao4, condom)  Safe from what?

changye: Holy etymology, Batman! That gave me a radgasm, right there. I have a new favourite word, no doubt about it. Didn't know that one before.

迷你裙 (mi2ni3qun2) a miniskirt

Actually, yeah. If the loan words manage to keep both sound AND meaning, then they're extra impressive and awesome. So I agree.

Though I wouldn't call 可口可乐 a loan word; it's a brand name. Nevertheless awesome. Good call.

simonpettersson

Some loan words should be seriously considered for the awesome category.

Take 可口可乐 (Coca-Cola), ke3 kou3 ke3 le4 for example.  It's made up of 可口 (tasty) and 可乐 (happy), so it perfectly imports the sound and meaning into Chinese.

My vote is to upgrade 可口可乐 to the status of awesome.