One word that came up in my Cantonese lessons recently was 海嘯 (hoi² siu³), which means tsunami. This surprised me, as I would have guessed that the Japanese word 津波 (tsunami) would have been borrowed into Chinese and given a Chinese pronunciation. Apparently not.
海嘯 [海啸] is also found in Mandarin, means the same thing, and is pronounced hǎixiào. The first character, 海 (hoi² / hǎi) means ocean, sea or a great number of people or things, while the second character, 嘯 [啸] (siu³ / xiào) means to hiss or whistle in Cantonese, and to whistle, screech, howl or roar in Mandarin. So 海嘯 [海啸] could be translated literally as ‘ocean whistle’, ‘ocean roar’, ‘sea hiss’, and so on [source].
Related words include:
- 大海嘯 [大海啸] (daai⁶ hoi² siu³ / dàhǎixiào) = megatsunami (an extremely large tsunami-like wave caused by an avalanche or landslide displacing large amounts of water very quickly)
- 氣象海嘯 [气象海啸] (hei³ zoeng⁶ hoi² siu³ / qìxiàng hǎixiào) = meteotsunami (a tsunami-like wave of meteorological origin)
嘯 [啸] (siu³ / xiào) also appears in 呼嘯 [呼啸] (fu¹ siu³/ hūxiào) = to whistle, scream, whiz; and 長嘯 [长啸] (coeng⁴ siu³/ chángxiào) = to let out a long, loud and clear cry [source].
The word 海嘯 (kaishō) also exists in Japanese, and means a tidal bore, a tsunami or a tidal wave [source].
The Japanese word 津波 (tsunami) means tsunami or tidal wave. 津 (tsu / shin) means harbour, port or ferry. It appears in words such as 津液 (shineki – saliva, spit, spittle), and 津々 (shinshin – gushing, overflowing, everlasting, unfailing, endless) [source].
波 (nami / ho) means wave, billow, ripple break, swell, ups and downs, advancing step by step, surging forward unopposably, succession of changes, tendency or (new) wave [source].
It appears in words such as:
- 波打つ (namiuchi) = to dash against, billow, roll, wave, heave, pound, undulate)
- 波風 (namikaze) = wind and waves, discord, trouble, strife, hardships)
- 波立つ (namidachi) = to be choppy, rough, swell, beat fast, be in turmoil)
- 波頭 (namigashira / hotō) = wave crest, white caps
- 波長 (hochō) = wavelength
- 波長 (hochō) = wavelength
- 波紋 (homon) = ripple, ring on the water, repercussions
- 波乱 (horan) = disturbance, trouble, commotion, uproar, turmoil, ups and downs (of live) vicissitudes, small and large waves
The characters 津 and 波 are both used in Chinese, but not together. 津 (jīn) means saliva, sweat, a ferry crossing or a ford (river crossing), and appears in the name of 天津 (Tiānjīn), a city in the northeast of China; while 波 (bō) means wave, ripple, storm or surge, and appears in 波兰 [波蘭] (Bōlán), the Chinese name for Poland [source].