When I first started learning Chinese, there was something I didn’t notice right away: not every word feels completely unfamiliar. Every now and then, I would learn a new word, say the pinyin a few times, and suddenly think, “Wait, that sounds kind of like an English word I already know.”
The reason is that Chinese has quite a few words that were created by imitating the pronunciation of foreign words. In Chinese, these are often called 音译词 (yīnyìcí), or transliterated loanwords. Of course, once a foreign word enters Chinese, its pronunciation has to be adjusted to fit Chinese syllables and tones, so it rarely sounds exactly like the original. Still, some words are close enough that you can guess the connection after hearing them once or twice.
Some words are easy to recognize almost immediately
One of the easiest examples is 咖啡 (kāfēi), which means coffee. If you say “kāfēi” a few times, the similarity to “coffee” is pretty obvious. It was also one of the first words that made me realize I could sometimes use my English vocabulary to help remember Chinese words.
沙发 (shāfā) works in a similar way. It means sofa. “Shāfā” and “sofa” don’t sound exactly the same, but they’re close enough to create an instant connection.
Here are a few other words that are fairly easy to recognize:
| Chinese | Pinyin | Familiar word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 咖啡 | kāfēi | coffee | coffee |
| 沙发 | shāfā | sofa | sofa |
| 披萨 | pīsà | pizza | pizza |
| 布丁 | bùdīng | pudding | pudding |
| 沙拉 | shālā | salad | salad |
| 汉堡 | hànbǎo | hamburger | hamburger |
| 吉他 | jítā | guitar | guitar |
| 坦克 | tǎnkè | tank | tank |
| 雷达 | léidá | radar | radar |
| 克隆 | kèlóng | clone | clone |
Out of these, 披萨 (pīsà) is one I find especially easy to remember. Once you know it means “pizza,” seeing the characters a few more times is usually enough for the word to stick without much extra memorization.
坦克 (tǎnkè) is another good example. “Tǎnkè” sounds quite close to tank, especially at the beginning. Once that connection is there, remembering both the pronunciation and the meaning becomes much easier.
Some words take a few repetitions before the connection clicks
Not every transliterated word is obvious the first time you hear it. Some Chinese words are longer and have changed more from the way the original English word sounds.
A good example is 巧克力 (qiǎokèlì), which means chocolate. If you only saw the characters without knowing the meaning, you probably wouldn’t guess it. But once you know it means “chocolate” and say “qiǎo-kè-lì” a few times, the connection starts to make more sense.
麦克风 (màikèfēng) is another interesting case. It means microphone. The 麦克 (màikè) part sounds fairly close to “mic” or “mike,” while 风 (fēng) has become part of the Chinese form of the word. This isn’t the kind of word you can always guess just by looking at the pinyin, but once you know where it comes from, it becomes much easier to remember.
A few more examples include:
高尔夫 (gāo’ěrfū) – golf
威士忌 (wēishìjì) – whisky
迪斯科 (dísīkē) – disco
马达 (mǎdá) – motor
扑克 (pūkè) – poker
What’s interesting is that when these words are pronounced in Chinese, they still follow Chinese tones. So even though they sound somewhat like the original word, they still sound very much like Chinese.
That’s also why you shouldn’t try to pronounce them as if you were speaking English. Knowing that 披萨 comes from pizza can help you remember it, but when speaking Chinese, you still need to pronounce it as pīsà, with the correct Chinese sounds and tones.
Some English words get shortened a lot in Chinese
Another group I find interesting includes words that don’t try to copy the entire English word, but only keep part of the sound.
For example, 酷 (kù) is often used with a meaning close to cool: stylish, impressive, or awesome. Since it only has one syllable, it’s probably one of the easiest borrowed words to remember if you already know English.
秀 (xiù) also appears quite often and is related to show. Depending on the context, it can refer to performing, showing off, or putting something on display.
Another fun example is 粉丝 (fěnsī). Traditionally, 粉丝 means a type of glass noodle, but in modern Chinese it can also mean fans — people who follow or admire a celebrity, creator, team, and so on. “Fěnsī” sounds fairly close to “fans,” which makes this newer meaning easy to remember.
These are the kinds of words that can make learning Chinese unexpectedly fun. A word may look like a completely normal Chinese word at first, but once you say it out loud and learn what it means, you suddenly realize that it’s connected to a very familiar English word.
But similar pronunciation doesn’t always mean the words have the same origin
This is one point I think is worth keeping in mind.
Once you start noticing words like these, it’s easy to assume that any Chinese word that sounds a little like an English word must have been borrowed from English. That isn’t always the case.
Some words really were transliterated from English, while others entered Chinese through different languages or through different Chinese-speaking regions. Usage can also vary between Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
For example, 芝士 (zhīshì) sounds quite similar to cheese and is widely used in some regions, but in Mainland Mandarin you will also commonly see 奶酪 (nǎilào) for cheese.
Similarly, 的士 (díshì) may remind learners of taxi, but if you’re learning standard Mandarin used in Mainland China, 出租车 (chūzūchē) is the more common word.
That’s why I treat sound similarity as a memory trick, not as a rule for guessing vocabulary.
It’s a useful memory trick if you already know English
What I like about these words is that I usually don’t need to create an extra mnemonic story to remember them. If I already know coffee, then when I learn 咖啡 kāfēi, my brain already has something familiar to connect it to. The same thing happens with sofa – 沙发, pizza – 披萨, guitar – 吉他, and tank – 坦克.
Of course, this only works for a small part of Chinese vocabulary. Most words still need to be learned through characters, context, phrases, and repeated exposure.
But whenever I come across a new Chinese word that sounds a little like English, I usually stop for a moment and check whether there really is a connection. If it turns out to be a transliterated loanword, remembering it often becomes much easier.
And there’s something genuinely fun about seeing 咖啡, 沙发, or 巧克力 for the first time, saying them out loud, and suddenly realizing that the word isn’t nearly as unfamiliar as it first seemed.
