Oddbean

**More fun with Chinese numbers** Spent nearly an hour researching, writing, and formatting the post above, and it really only scratches the surface of how pervasive homophonic number symbolism is in Chinese culture. I quickly learned these Mandarin number combinations and meanings when I first moved to Taiwan, and picked up the Cantonese ones from books and my Hong Kong friends a little later on :) ***Pulled from Wikipedia, translated from Simplified Chinese to Traditional Chinese (what I learned and prefer). It is worth noting that some of these in Mandarin are mainly used by Mainland Chinese due to regional dialects.*** #### Number Combinations And Meanings - **48**: Any 3 digit numbers that end with 48 sounds like "wealthy for X lifetimes", for example, 748 (pinyin: qī sì bā) sounds like "七世發" (pinyin: qī shì fā) **meaning "wealthy for 7 lifetimes**". - **167** (Cantonese Yale: yāt luhk chāt) in Cantonese sounds like "一碌𨳍" (Cantonese Yale: yāt lūk chat), which is **a vulgar way of saying "a dick"**. - **168** (pinyin: yī liù bā; Cantonese Yale: yāt luhk baat) sounds like "一路發" (pinyin: yī lù fā; Cantonese Yale: yāt louh faat) **meaning "fortune all the way"**. - **250** (pinyin: èr bǎi wǔ) is usually **used to insult someone the speaker considers extremely foolish**. Alternative ways such as 兩百五 (lǐang bǎi wǔ) and 二百五十 (èr bǎi wǔ shí) do not have this meaning. - **448** (pinyin: sì sì bā) sounds like "死先發" (pinyin: sǐ xiān fā) **meaning "wealthy on death"**. - **514** (pinyin: wǔ yī sì) in Mandarin sounds like "我要死" (pinyin: wǒ yào sǐ; **lit. 'I want to die')**. - **518** (pinyin: wǔ yāo bā) in Mandarin sounds like "我要發" (pinyin: wǒ yào fā) which **means "I am going to prosper"**. - **520** (pinyin: wǔ èr líng) in Mandarin sounds similar to "我愛你" (pinyin: wǒ ài nǐ; **lit. 'I love you'**). - **548** (Cantonese Yale: ńg sei baat) in Cantonese sounds like "唔使發"(Cantonese Yale: m̀ sái faat) **meaning "no need to be wealthy"**. - **748** (pinyin: qī sì bā) in Mandarin sounds like "去死吧" (pinyin: qù sǐ ba; **lit. 'go die'**). - **1314** (pinyin: yī sān yī sì; Cantonese Yale: yāt sāam yāt sei) sounds like "一生一世" (pinyin: yīshēngyīshì; Cantonese Yale: yāt sāng yāt sai; lit. 'one life one lifetime') **meaning "forever"** and is often used romantically. - **5354** (Cantonese Yale: ńg sāam ńg sei) in Cantonese sounds like "唔生唔死" (Cantonese Yale: m̀ sāang m̀ séi) **meaning "not alive not dead"**, referring to being in a miserable state like one is almost dead. - **7414** (七四一四, qī sì yī sì) in Mandarin is like "去死一死" (qù sǐ yī sǐ), **meaning "go die" or more literally "go die and die again"** - **7456** (pinyin: qī sì wǔ liù) in Mandarin sounds like "氣死我了" (pinyin: qì sǐ wǒ le) **meaning "to make me angry" or "to piss me off"**. - **9413** (pinyin: jiǔ sì yī sān; Cantonese Yale: gáu sei yāt sāam) sounds like "九死一生" (pinyin: jiǔ sǐ yī shēng; Cantonese Yale: gáu séi yāt sāang; **lit. 'nine die one live') meaning 90% chance of being dead and only 10% chance of being alive, or survived such situations (a narrow escape)**. - **5201314** (pinyin: wǔ èr líng yī sān yī sì) in Mandarin sounds like "我愛你一生一世" (pinyin: wǒ ài nǐ yīshēngyīshì; **lit. 'I love you a lifetime'**).