Clothing, Daily Items, and Home Words in Chinese

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Chinese Vocabulary · 中文词汇

Clothing, Daily Items, and Home Words in Chinese

衣物与日常用品词汇 yīwù yǔ rìcháng yòngpǐn cíhuì

Before we get into the vocab, here’s something that surprises a lot of visitors: garbage collection in Taiwan doesn’t work the way it does in most places. There are no curbside bins — instead, garbage trucks drive through neighborhoods on a set schedule, blasting a tune (often Beethoven’s “Für Elise” or Tekla Bądarzewska’s “A Maiden’s Prayer”) so everyone knows it’s time to run outside and personally hand over their trash. For anyone working a 9-to-5, this is genuinely inconvenient — the truck doesn’t wait, and missing it means holding onto your garbage for another day or two.

On the bright side, it does mean you’ll actually run into your neighbors on a regular basis, standing around waiting together. Who knows — you might just meet someone special while you’re both there clutching your trash bags.

What you carry and wear

Clothing and Daily Item Words in Chinese

ChinesePinyinEnglishKoreanJapanese
背包bēibāoBackpack배낭バックパック
表biǎoWatch; meter; form시계時計
袋子dàiziBag; sack봉지袋
刀dāoKnife칼刀
镜子jìngziMirror거울鏡
毛巾máojīnTowel수건タオル
毛衣máoyīSweater스웨터セーター
帽子màoziHat; cap모자帽子
皮鞋píxiéLeather shoes가죽 구두革靴
塑料sùliàoPlastic플라스틱プラスチック
袜子wàziSocks양말靴下
外套wàitàoCoat; jacket외투コート
牙膏yágāoToothpaste치약歯磨き粉
眼镜yǎnjìngGlasses; eyeglasses안경眼鏡
钥匙yàoshiKey열쇠鍵
纸巾zhǐjīnTissue; paper towel티슈ティッシュ

Putting it all together

Examples

我wǒ把bǎ眼镜yǎnjìng放在fàngzài背包bēibāo里lǐ了le I put my glasses in my backpack.

你nǐ可以kěyǐ借jiè我wǒ一yì条tiáo毛巾máojīn吗ma Can you lend me a towel?

Around the house

Home and Everyday Life Words in Chinese

ChinesePinyinEnglishKoreanJapanese
村cūnVillage마을村
盒子héziBox상자箱
家具jiājùFurniture가구家具
客厅kètīngLiving room거실リビング
垃圾lājīGarbage; trash쓰레기ゴミ
老家lǎojiāHometown고향故郷
平常píngchángUsual; ordinary; normally평소普段
日记rìjìDiary; journal일기日記

村 usually shows up as 村子

On its own, 村 (cūn) is mostly used in compounds or place names. In everyday speech, people usually say 村子 (cūnzi) when talking about “a village.”

Putting it all together

Examples

我wǒ平常píngcháng都dōu在zài客厅kètīng写xiě日记rìjì I usually write in my diary in the living room.

我wǒ老家lǎojiā是shì一yí个gè很hěn小xiǎo的de村子cūnzi My hometown is a very small village.

Test yourself

Vocabulary Quiz

B2
Do you like it? 🙂