白话

白話

báihuà

noun #30,929

Meanings

1 vernacular Chinese (spoken language; modern written Chinese)
2 empty/idle talk
3 Cantonese (in some Southern usage)

Characters

white; plain; in vain

Examples

五四运动以后，白话文取代了文言文。

Wǔsì Yùndòng yǐhòu, báihuàwén qǔdài le wényánwén.

After the May Fourth Movement, vernacular Chinese replaced Classical Chinese.

别说白话了，做点实事吧。

Bié shuō báihuà le, zuò diǎn shíshì ba.

Stop the empty talk and do something real.

广东人之间常说白话。

Guǎngdōng rén zhī jiān cháng shuō báihuà.

Among Cantonese people, they often speak Cantonese ('white speech').

Tips

history

The single most important sense is the literary one: 白话文 (báihuàwén) is 'vernacular writing' — Chinese written the way people actually speak, as opposed to 文言文 (wényánwén, Classical Chinese). 鲁迅's 1918 short story 《狂人日记》 (A Madman's Diary) is the landmark work that established 白话 as the basis of modern Chinese literature.

register

In Guangdong and overseas Cantonese communities, 白话 is also a colloquial name for the Cantonese language. Context (geography of the speaker) tells you which sense applies.

Stroke Order

白 bái

话 huà