# Pronunciation: 血



## yuechu

Hello/大家好，

I have a question regarding the pronunciation of the character "血“. According to the dictionary, it is xue4. However, in real life, I have always heard it pronounced xue3. And there is also an alternate Taiwanese (Mandarin) pronunciation: xie3.

I am wondering: is the pronunciation "xue4" used as well? If so, in what contexts? Are the pronunciations completely interchangeable, or would it only be in formal words/compounds that one would find "xue4"?

For example, I came across the following sentence today:
"老大这次下血本了，可能大几千加币。"
Would the word 血本 be usually pronounced "xue4ben3" like in the dictionary, or xue3ben3? (or both, depending on the speaker/context/region?)

Thanks/谢谢！​


----------



## viajero_canjeado

At least in Taiwan, it's always xue3 or xie3. Usually the 血 in 豬血糕 is pronounced xue3 by Taiwanese. However for 抽血 and 血型 it's xie3. Once a few years back, a nurse asked me my blood type and I thought she was asking whether or not I'd written a letter 寫信 . I've never heard it pronounced xue4; perhaps it's common on the mainland?


----------



## ztxforever

In china mainland,"血" pronounce is only “xue4” or “xie3”.“血本"in mainland pronounced "xie3ben3".and we usually read it like "血本儿"。

the “血液”“血型” pronounce “xue4”。

some localism pronounce “血” like “xue3”


----------



## SuperXW

I hate this character. The only meaning it got is "blood". Why people read it differently...?


----------



## ztxforever

no ,the "血" in “血本” don't mean "blood".in here,it's mean "very much""a lot","血本" means “The last assets”like blood for human。

in  this sentence"老大这次下血本了，可能大几千加币。" ，the “血本” means "boss use many money this time,more the thousands CAD maybe"


----------



## SuperXW

ztxforever said:


> no ,the "血" in “血本” don't mean "blood".in here,it's mean "very much""a lot","血本" means “The last assets”like blood for human。


Come on, it's just an extension of the "blood" concept... You can't give every metaphore a different sound... 0_0


----------



## yuechu

@ztxforever
Thanks for the confirmation of its meaning and to everyone for their replies!

I am surprised to hear that 血 is usually pronounce xue4/xie3 in Mainland China. CEDICT-based dictionaries have "xie3" marked as a Taiwanese pronunciation (perhaps wrongly if it is also a Mainland pronunciation) and xue3 as the main entry, so it might have confused my ear...

For example, I am mixed (as in of mixed race--half Chinese and half European origin), so I usually say I am a hun4xue3 混血. (actually I usually rhoticize it/make it retroflex by saying hun4xuer3 混血儿) Would this be the common pronunciation or would hun4xue4/hun4xie3 be more common? (with or without 儿化?)


----------



## 南島君

xue4 文獻記載推導的現代音、讀書音 Reconstructed phonology based on philological text, adopted by PRC.
xie3 口語 Spoken language (of early 20th century mandarin[?]), adopted by ROC.


----------



## ztxforever

血　
（一）xuè （文）用于复音词及成语，如“贫血”、“心血”、“呕心沥血”、“血泪史”、“狗血喷头”等。
（二）xiě （语）口语多单用，如“流了点儿血”及几个口语常用词，如：“鸡血”、“血晕”、“血块子”等。

凡是“血”字单独成词的就可以读作xiě。例如：他摔倒流了血。这里的“血”字单独成词，应该就读作xiě。再如一个在舞台上常见的句式：血！这里的“血”单字成句，仍旧读作xiě。

而当“血”字和其他字组合成词，并且结合紧密，缺一个字都不可完整表达意思的时候，就读作xuè。这样的例子很多：血液、血管、血统、血色、血癌。很多带“血”字的成语因为结构紧密，自然也属于这种情况：血光之灾、呕心沥血、血海深仇、含血喷人。

Let's have a exercise.How to pronounce the sentece “血债还要血来偿”？The first pronounce “xue4” ，Second is “xie3”.Because “血债” is a word that can't be splited，and second “血” is a single word。

So  the word include “血”   can't be splited  is pronounced "xue4",and it use as a single word is pronounce "xie3".


ztxforever said:


> In china mainland,"血" pronounce is only “xue4” or “xie3”.“血本"in mainland pronounced "xie3ben3".and we usually read it like "血本儿"。


SORRY!!血本 is pronounce xue4ben3.In china the word easy to confuse us。

And FORGIVE my mistak above and Chinglish please。


----------



## 南島君

ztxforever said:


> 凡是“血”字单独成词的就可以读作xiě。例如：他摔倒流了血。这里的“血”字单独成词，应该就读作xiě。再如一个在舞台上常见的句式：血！这里的“血”单字成句，仍旧读作xiě。
> 而当“血”字和其他字组合成词，并且结合紧密，缺一个字都不可完整表达意思的时候，就读作xuè。这样的例子很多：血液、血管、血统、血色、血癌。很多带“血”字的成语因为结构紧密，自然也属于这种情况：血光之灾、呕心沥血、血海深仇、含血喷人。



這是目前的規範麽？（抱歉我真的不知道 ）
如果是，我覺得真是作繭自縛、自找麻煩：兩種讀音只是層次的差別。


----------



## ztxforever

根据我查到的资料，这个确实是目前的规范。
而且在我印象里，日常用语里确实也符合这个规则。可能有特例，但是我想不到。
大陆和台湾之间的发音和语法确实有很有一些差距，因为我在一家台湾企业工作，所以对台湾国语也算是知道一些。


----------



## 南島君

ztxforever said:


> 根据我查到的资料，这个确实是目前的规范。
> 而且在我印象里，日常用语里确实也符合这个规则。可能有特例，但是我想不到。



如果是《漢典》的釋義，我個人想是描述性大於規範性麽？i.e. 描述單用“血”有xie3的讀法這種口語現象，不是規範口語單用“血”應該要讀作xie3。

一般一個“字”規範作兩個（或多個）讀音，是因爲它有兩個（或多個）義項；不管讀哪個音，“血”（在現代漢語）只有一個義項，爲什麽規範作兩個讀音呢？


----------



## ztxforever

是的，通常来说，一个意思只有一个读音，但是血是例外，同样表示“血液”，但却有两个读音，可能是一直流传下来的吧。
正式场合通常是读作“xue4”，口语上，“xie3”会出现的多一些。
但是两个读音都是可以用在正式场合的，像上面说的一样，“xue4”通常用在不可分割的词里面，“xie3”一般是单用或者是口语。
不过日常用语里面，同一个词，用“xue4”和“xie3”都不会有歧义，只是听上去或许会别扭一点。

我不清楚台湾的读音是什么，也许会有差距，但我查的大陆的资料确实是这样子。


----------



## yuechu

Thank you, ztxforever, for your very detailed/clear explanations! (and 南岛君 as well!)

Just to confirm: for "我是*混血*", would it be xue4 since it is in a compound? hun4xue4? or hun4xie3 since it is spoken Chinese? (and perhaps even though it is not standard.. has anyone heard hun4xue3 or hun4xuer3?)


----------



## ztxforever

混血儿
hùn xuè ér
这里的”儿“不是儿话音，而是代表人，与“女儿”的“儿”类似。

BTW， I also can read it “hun4xue3er2”，but official pronounce is “hun4xue4er2”


----------



## SuperXW

baosheng said:


> Just to confirm: for "我是*混血*", would it be xue4 since it is in a compound? hun4xue4? or hun4xie3 since it is spoken Chinese? (and perhaps even though it is not standard.. has anyone heard hun4xue3 or hun4xuer3?)


Although may not be standard...I always heard hun4xue3, never hun4xue4/hun4xie3...It will sound funny...
But some people do pronounce hun4 as hun3, and that sounds ok. Yeah! Another problematic character!


----------



## ztxforever

I search many article,and they also told me that the “血” don't have "xue3" pronouce .
Actually,I'm surely that we can use xue3 in daily conversations .
and “混” have TWO pronunciation "hun2" and "hun4".

混蛋 húndàn
混球儿 húnqiúr
this “混” is same as “浑” 

In other words the “混” pronounce “hun4” like“混合”“混编”“混乱”“混淆”

In official pronounce，“混” don‘t have pronounce like（hun3），but in daily conversion we can read “混乱” like “hun3luan4”.
yes，this word like “血”，have inofficial pronounce。


----------



## Youngfun

I think in the North and in Zhejiang most people pronounce xue3 for both.

So in "official Chinese" it would 流血xie3, 鸭血xie3, 猪血xie3膏, 血xue4压, 血xue4型, 心血xue4管, 气血xue4
But in the North people usually say  流血xue3, 鸭血 xue3, 猪血xue3膏, 血xue3压, 血xue3型, 心血xue3管, 气血xue3.

Once I was seeing a Beijing doctor that was visiting a patient from Sichuan (I guess), the doctor kept asking 有没有血 xue3?
The patient didn't understand, then adter the doctor repeated 3 times, he said 哦，没有血 xie3...

I think in Zhejiang, in our dialect 血 is homophone with 雪, so when we learn Mandarin we also start pronouncing them the same, then we hear Northeners have the same pronounciation, so we also think that's the right one.

While I heard xie3 many times (from non-Beijingese people) I heard xue4 only 2 times.
Once when a university teacher pronounced extra-clearly for the first time the word 高血xue4压. But that was an intentional pronounciation, later during the class she switched back to her natural pronunciation with xue3.
Another time was when watching a documentary VCR from the 80s where speakers spoke with a perfect, accentless Mandarin, the kind of diction used in documentaries.
There they say 高血xue4压, 气血xue4.

But for me xue4 still sounds very unnatural.


----------



## YangMuye

> So in "official Chinese" it would 流血xie3, 鸭血xie3, 猪血xie3膏, 血xue4压, 血xue4型, 心血xue4管, 气血xue4But in the North people usually say 流血xue3, 鸭血 xue3, 猪血xue3膏, 血xue3压, 血xue3型, 心血xue3管, 气血xue3.


I would say
流血 xue3/xie3
流血牺牲 xue3/xue4/xie3
猪血/鸭血 xie3/xue3
血型/血压 xue3/xie3/xue4
血管 xue3(2)/xue4
气血 xue3/xie3

I rarely use xue4 unless it's a very formal word and I use tend to use xie3 in casual speech.


----------

