Hi, Grok tells me, that “discuss” is not the correct translation for 讨. According to Grok it means “to beg” or “to provoke”. Only tao3 lun4 means to discuss. Is this correct? If yes, how can I change the entry? Thank you for your feedback.
A few things worth knowing:
- Many characters, 讨 being one of them, have multiple meanings. Your AI definition is a common definition, but not the only one. A single word will never work to convey all the possible meanings (it’s the same for many English words - have you ever looked up the +50 different meanings of “set” ?).
- The HanziHero English keyword isn’t a definition. It’s just a keyword. It’s a way to help you anchor it into your memory. It’s usually very close to a correct definition word, so they’re never “wrong” as such, but they should also never be taken as a dictionary definition (especially considering the first point - a single word will never cover multiple meanings).
- Never trust AI to answer questions like this - they can and will lie to you especially about foreign languages. Always worth checking a dictionary for things like this - some dictionary definitions for 讨 are:
-
Yellow bridge: to invite; to provoke; to demand or ask for; to send armed forces to suppress; to denounce or condemn; to marry (a woman); to discuss or study
-
DongChinese: Original meaning:manage, govern. Depicts using speech (言) and one’s hands (寸) to manage or govern. The meaning later shifted to “discuss” and “ask for”.
-
Pleco: screenshot of the app (the CC dictionary definition matches yellow bridge exactly):
-
And if you look at the frequency for 讨 you’ll see 讨厌 and 讨论 as the most common by far. The 2nd most likely world you’ll ever using that character uses the “to discuss” meaning. But it’s far from the only one: 研讨会 (discussion forum), 商讨 (to discuss), 讨论会 (symposium), 讨教 (to consult), 研讨 (discussion) etc all use the “discuss” meaning of 讨.
So “discuss” is not wrong at all - it’s just one of the many meanings of 讨.
Thank you so much. I am a beginner and often feel unsure when different words have the same meaning. Your post really helped me.
Someone has already mentioned Pleco. It is a one time purchase and I do not regret it. It holds so much information!
Pleco seems free to download but comes with tons of optional upgrades. What one time purchase do you consider the most useful?
I personally purchased the professional bundle but you could manage with the Basic bundle. The flash card function is handy to have.