# degree (angle, temperature)



## nic456

你好,

As you may know, degree can be used for temperature (5 °C, 55 °F) and angles in geometry (right angle of 90°). Is my impression correct that you use 度 in the context of weather and also mostly for maths. If so, when would you use ° at all?

谢谢!


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## 枫十二

Hello,
      I am not sure whether I got you clearly.I think that you have already answer the question yourself. degree means °（度）.
      90 degrees angle = 90  度  角
5  degrees Celsius = 5   度  （caculated in  Celsius）
55 degrees Fahrenheit = 55  度 （caculated in  Fahrenheit）


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## SuperXW

We do use the symbol ° , and °C , etc. It's pronounced and written as 度, just like in English you say "degree".
For most units and measures introduced from the West, we follow the Western symbols or letters, and give them a Chinese translation when necessary.


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## mycityofsky

Hi, nic456, I guess you have answered your question by yourself. Your inference is right.

° is used in geometry. For example, the angle is 45°.


°C is used in temperature. For example, today's temperature is 30°C.

Both ° and °C is called "度" in Chinese.


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## nic456

Thank you for your replies.
@feng12 Yes, there is something lost in translation. I would always use 度 when talking about the weather regardless of Celsius or Fahrenheit, but I am uncertain about geometry or CAD/technical drawing.

@SuperXW 和 mycityofsky If I understand you correctly, the Western symbols are used in writing and the Chinese "characters" in spoken language. How can you use a character in spoken language? 

谢谢!


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## mycityofsky

I'm not sure about that. We are just born to use these characters. As to why using the character for Celsius and angles, maybe it was relevant to our ancestors who introduced the symbols. I'm not very familiar with this part of the history.


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## SuperXW

nic456 said:


> @SuperXW 和 mycityofsky If I understand you correctly, the Western symbols are used in writing and the Chinese "characters" in spoken language. How can you use a character in spoken language?


Well, you simply read it out... I'm sure you know that every character has a pronunciation. 

 I don't understand why you feel so hard to understand:
English: °   degree 
Chinese: °   度

The character 度 itself has the meaning of 程度 or "degree", that's why it's used to pronounce the simply °


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## 枫十二

nic456 said:


> Thank you for your replies.
> @feng12 Yes, there is something lost in translation. I would always use 度 when talking about the weather regardless of Celsius or Fahrenheit, but I am uncertain about geometry or CAD/technical drawing.
> 
> @SuperXW 和 mycityofsky If I understand you correctly, the Western symbols are used in writing and the Chinese "characters" in spoken language. How can you use a character in spoken language?
> 
> 谢谢!



I'm sorry.I never use CAD drawing,only heard of it.Can you give me an example of geometry that you can't understand?
I have another idea to explain the temperature thing.
As far as I know,we only use Celsius (we never use Fahrenheit) when it comes to temperature.So when we say "temperature is 30 度"，it is very clear that it caculated in Celsius.there is no need to add “C ” after it.But you can also say"temperature is 30摄氏度"(this is the exact translation for "temperature is 30°C").Maybe this is what makes you feel confused. temperature is 30° =温度是30度
             temperature is 30°C =温度是30摄氏度 (but we always use 温度是30度 instead)


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## nic456

@SuperXW/feng12 Apologies for the confusion, it was meant to be funny. I obviously picked the wrong smiley. If the text states one angle of the triangle has 65°, you would use in the Chinese text also 65°, but pronounce it 六十度°.


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## 枫十二

nic456 said:


> @SuperXW/feng12 If the text states one angle of the triangle has 65°, you would use in the Chinese text also 65°, but pronounce it 六十度°.


one angle of the triangle has 65° =这个三角形的一个角是六十五度(or 这个三角形的一个角是65°)
The two translations above are equal and they have the same pronouciation. the pronouciation of "°" is "度",not "度°".
Is it clear now?


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## SuperXW

nic456 said:


> If the text states one angle of the triangle has 65°, you would use in the Chinese text also 65°, but pronounce it 六十度 六十度°.



If the text states one angle of the triangle has 65°, you would use in the English text also 65°, but pronounce it sixty five degree... 0.0

I think what interested you could be that you thought the Chinese character 度 was another "symbol", which could not represent the pronunciation like the English word "degree" did, then it looked like "a symbol of another symbol" to you...?


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## nic456

@feng12/SuperXW Second apology, this time for my typo.


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