套话

套話

tàohuà

noun #25,940

Meanings

1 polite formula
2 conventional greeting
3 cliché
4 stock phrase

Characters

a set, a cover; conventional, formulaic

words, speech, talk

Examples

他说了很多套话，没有实质内容。

Tā shuōle hěn duō tàohuà, méiyǒu shízhì nèiróng.

He said a lot of stock phrases with no substantive content.

别说套话了，直接告诉我答案。

Bié shuō tàohuà le, zhíjiē gàosù wǒ dá'àn.

Stop with the pleasantries and just tell me the answer.

官员的发言充满了套话。

Guānyuán de fāyán chōngmǎnle tàohuà.

The official's speech was full of clichés.

Tips

usage

套话 often has a negative connotation — it implies hollow, formulaic language that sounds nice but says nothing. Compare with 客套话 (kètào huà), which specifically refers to polite social niceties.

Stroke Order

套 tào

话 huà