hu means “tiger.” But in any case where ambiguity might arise, lao-hu, “old tiger,” is used instead of the monosyllable.
(another hu) is “fox,” and
li, an animal belonging to the smaller cat tribe. Together, hu-li, they form the usual term for fox.
chih tao is literally “to know the way,” but has come to be used simply for the verb “to know.” These pairs or two-word phrases are of such frequent occurrence, that the Chinese spoken language might almost be described as bi-syllabic. Something similar is seen in the extensive use of suffixes or enclitics, attached to many of the commonest nouns.
nü is the word for “girl,” but in speech