Yin Yang

I have been thinking what I should write about today. 

I have decided to write about im1 from im1iang5 and words beginning with im1. 

It is not possible to speak bhung5ngia2 文雅 [refine and elegant] Teochew Uê without improving our command of the Chinese language.

A Singaporean Hokkien man was asked why Hokkien people in Singapore do not speak bhung5ngia2 Hokkien Uê and he said that the immigrants from China some two hundred years ago were not educated and thus they were not able to speak bhung5ngia2 Hokkien.

Nowadays, we Chinese have to learn Chinese and I learn Chinese via Teochew Uê. Mandarin is a foreign language for me. Therefore, for me to improve my Chinese, I can only improve my Teochew Uê. All the words listed in this post are Standard Chinese words, except for im1hung5 bhoi6 suaⁿ2.

im1iang5

陰陽∣阴阳

yin yang

 

im1am3	陰暗∣阴暗	gloomy, murky, dark
im1hiam2	陰險∣阴险	treacherous and sinister
im1hiam2dag8luah8	陰險毒辣∣阴险毒辣	treacherous and murderous
You can describe a person or a situation as im1hiam2 or im1hiam2dag8luah8 - hiam2 means dangerous, dag8 means poisonous or toxic and dag8luah8 as cruel, vicious.
im1hung5	陰魂∣阴魂	The spirit or soul of the dead.
im1hung5 bhoi6 suan2	陰魂𠁞散∣阴魂𠀾散	The spirit of a deceased does not disperse.
im1hung5 bhoi6 suan2 is said of a person whose influence still lingers on or the spirit of his doctrine still prevails amongst the living.
im1lêh8	陰曆｜阴历	traditional Chinese lunar calendar
im1gang1	陰間｜阴间	Hell, the underworld
im1mou5	陰謀｜阴谋	plot, conspiracy, scheme
im1mou5gui2gi3	陰謀詭計｜阴谋诡计	crafty plots and schemes
im1sêng6iang5suê1	陰盛陽衰｜阴盛阳衰	wife controlling husband
I learnt this last expression, im1sêng6iang5suê1, over 15 years ago from listening to a Teochew play in which the mother described her son as im1sêng6iang5suê1. A Teochew friend from Swatow said that the mother supposes not to be uneducated and how could she have known of this expression “im1sêng6iang5suê1”.

So we need to learn new Teochew / Standard Chinese words all the time to improve our command of our mother tongue.

Over to you: How do you say this “陰晴不定” in Teochew Uê? It can be used to describe somebody who is moody and emotionally unstable or to describe a changeable weather.