By Jing Wang, En-Hui Hsieh, Xuecai Ge and Tian Lu
While scientists in Asia often just use Western terms such as "DNA" for specific concepts, there are lots of very interesting translations of these terms. They usually give us wonderful insights into the actual concepts behind the science, and sometimes they are simply poetic. This site is intended to be a collection of these translations - mainly from English to Chinese and back again to English, but almost any interesting "journey in translation" is fair game.
Scientific Categories
Biology in Chinese (生物 sheng wuˋ) literally means live (生 sheng) animals/material (物 wuˋ).
Chemistry (化學 huaˋ xueˊ) is the study (學 xueˊ) of change (化 huaˋ) since Chemistry often involves changes in elemental properties.
Medicinal science (醫學 yi xueˊ) in Chinese actually includes anything related to healing; the literal meaning is the study (學 xueˊ) of healing/cure (醫 yi). The Chinese translation of pharmacology (藥理學 yaoˋ liˇ xueˊ) has a more self-explanatory name: the study (學 xueˊ) of medicinal pathology (藥理 yaoˋ liˇ ).
Pathology in Chinese is specifically identifying the pathology of diseases (病理學 bingˋ liˇ xueˊ).
Although the Chinese translation of neurology simply means the study of neurons (神經學 shenˊ jing xueˊ), the Chinese translation of neuron is quite interesting. Neuron (神經 shenˊ jing) has the meaning of “unit of nerves”, and the literal translation of nerve is the passage (經 jing) of god/spirit (神 shenˊ). Perhaps when people first studied the nervous system, it seemed so magical that there must be god in it.
Besides biomedical related categories, Physics in Chinese is named the property/law(理 liˇ ) of materials. The word 理 (li ˇ) has a conceptual meaning that usually indicates pathology or how things work.
As for engineering, its Chinese literal meaning is work process (工程 gong chengˊ), which comes from the fact that engineers design and build things.
Genetics and Molecular Biology
DNA, called 脱氧核糖核酸 in Chinese, is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used during development and functioning of all known living organisms. Its Chinese name is defined based on its chemical structure.
In eukaryotic cells, DNA and protein are organized into chromatin (染色质 Ran Se Zhi). Chromatin is then packaged together into chromosomes (染色体 Ran Se Ti). 染 means dye in English, while 色 means color. 质 and 体 mean material and object separately. Since the material can be organized into an object, it consistent with chromatin forming a chromosome. All together, chromosome means an object that can be dyed into color (from the Greek words for "color" and "body"). This perfectly describes the observation that chromosomes can be strongly stained by particular dyes. The most important protein involved in chromatin organization is Histone, which is called 组蛋白。蛋白 means protein, and 组 can have two different meanings. When used as noun, 组 means group; when used as verb, 组 means organizing. Thus, the whole word 组蛋白 can be understood as a group of proteins that can organize DNA into certain structures, such as chromatin.
Gene (基因). “基” means foundation; “因” means the cause. 基因means “the foundational cause”. This Chinese terminology is nicely abstract: genes are the underlying causes of traits. It captures function, not structure. A related terminology is “基因组”. “因” means the set. “基因组” means “the complete set of the foundational causes.”
Transcription (转录). 转 – to transfer, 录 - to record. 转录 literally means “ to transfer of recorded information”. It convey the meaning of copying data (from DNA to RNA).
Translation (翻译). 翻 – to flip or turn over, 译 - to interpret or decode. 翻译 means translating from the "language of nucleotides" (RNA) to the "language of amino acids" (proteins).
Cell Biology and Protein Biochemistry
Many cellular components are made of proteins (from the Greek word for "primary, or first"). Most of the proteins are named in Chinese by their function. Protein, in Chinese, is "蛋白質". Each character individually means "egg" (蛋, dan), "white" (白, bai), and "material or consistency" (質, zhi). The structural protein actin, for example, is a protein named for its function. Its Chinese translation, "肌動蛋白", means muscle moving protein. "肌" (Ji) is muscle. "動" (dong) means move. "蛋白" (dan bai) again means protein. Literally however, it is still "muscle moving egg white."
Other proteins that belong in a particular category of cellular function sometimes have their own special name. Enzyme, for instance, is called "酶" or "酵素". "酵素" (xiao su) which literally means element (素, su) that ferments (酵, xiao); whereas "酶" (mei) is commonly used in the way "-ase" is used in English to describe enzymes. A good example of that is "激酶". "激" (ji) means activating, or exciting and "酶" (mei) is enzyme. These two characters combined means kinase (from the Greek word for movement) in Chinese.
Cell (细胞). “细”means tiny, “胞”means a sac or an enclosure in this context. So 细胞 means “a tiny enclosed unit”. This is close to the original observation of cells as small compartments. Compared to the “monk’s room in a monastery” coined by Robert Hooke (1635–1703), the Chinese terminology is more biologically descriptive. There are a few related terminologies:
Organelle (细胞器). 细胞 – cell, 器 - tool or instrument. 细胞器 literally means “cellular instruments”. It provides a very functional view: the organelles are tools the cell uses.
Cytoplasm (细胞质). “质” means substance. 细胞质means “substance in the cell”.
Nucleus (细胞核). “核” means core or kernel. 细胞核means “the cell’s core”. This aligns well with how the nucleus appears under a light microscope: a dark, distinct "kernel" within the cytoplasm.
Cytoskeleton (细胞骨架). “骨架” means bone or framework. 细胞骨架means the cell’s bone or framework.
Membrane (膜). “膜” means a thin layer of film. It carries a sense of flexibility and thinness. Based in this, 细胞膜 refers to the film wrapping up the cell, 核膜 means the film enclosing the nuclear.
Metabolism (新陈代谢). 新-new; 陈-old, 代- to replace. 谢 – to wither. 新陈代谢 literally translates to: "The new replaces the old as it fades away. This is a poetic way of describing the dynamic turnover of life processes.
Immunology
In Chinese, Immunity is called "免疫" (miǎn yì). 免 means "avoidance", while 疫 means "epidemic disease". So, in general, it means "avoid epidemic disease", which is not too different from its meaning in English, which refers to the resistance of an organism to infection or disease.
There are two different types of immunity, innate immunity and adaptive immunity. Innate immunity (先天免疫 Xian Tian Mian Yi) comprises the cells and mechanisms that defend the host from infection by other organisms in a non-specific manner. 先天 refers to the fact that this ability exists when we are born. Therefore, innate immunity in Chinese refers to the ability we naturally have to fight against infectious disease. Meanwhile, adaptive immunity (适应免疫) is composed of highly specialized, systemic cells and processes that eliminate or prevent pathogenic challenges. In Chinese, it is translated from English directly from its meaning.
There is another way to categorize the immune system. Based on the components involved in the immune response, immunity can be divided into the humoral immune response, which is mediated by secreted antibodies, and the cellular immune response, which involves T lymphocytes. The Chinese name for the humoral immune response is 体液免疫反应 （Ti Ye Mian Yi Fan Ying). 体 means "body", while 液 means "fluid", and 反应 means "response". So, all together, 体液免疫反应 means "body fluid immune response" which reflects the fact that the secreted antibody is mainly distributed in the extracellular fluid of the whole body. When it comes to the cellular immune response, in Chinese, it is called 细胞免疫反应。细 means "small, or tiny", and 胞 means "placenta"; however, when these two words are together, it means "cell", and indicates T lymphocytes which are important for this component of the immune response.
Pharmacology
The words "medicine" and "drug" have the same meaning in Chinese even though they can suggest different things in English. The word 藥 (Yaoˋ) only means medicine in Chinese (same in Japanese kanji). For illegal drugs, Chinese gave it a specific term, poisonous items (毒品, duˊ pinˇ), in which 毒 (duˊ) means poisonous and 品 (pinˇ) means items. However, 藥 (Yaoˋ) can sometimes be used for poison if you add a "poisonous" in front of the word "medicine", 毒藥 (duˊ yaoˋ).
Many famous drugs have their Chinese name translated by sound. Chinese language is flexible in choosing characters with the same sound; people choose the character with meanings that most closely represents the item when they translate with sounds.
Marijuana, for example, is called 大麻 (Daˋ Maˊ) in Chinese; its literal meaning is "big numb" (daˋ maˊ). Coincidentally, if you pronounce the words with the wrong tone, you might accidentally be saying big (daˋ) mother (ma) instead.
Amphetamine in Chinese is called 安非他命 (An Fei Ta Mingˋ, sound-translated), 安(An) means good/safe, 非 (Fei) means not or negative, 他 (Ta) is he/his, 命 (Mingˋ) stands for life. Together, 安非他命 (An Fei Ta Mingˋ) can be explained as not good for one's life.
Neurobiology
Neurology (神经学). “经”means the pathway, “神” means mental or cognitive activity”. 神经学 literally means the study of the pathway that conduct mental or cognitive activity.
Consciousness (意识). “意” means intention or thought; “识” means awareness or knowledge.意识 refers to the ability to think or to be aware.
Synapse (突触). “突” means protrusion; “触” means contact. 突触means “protruding contact point”. The Chinese terminology is a structural description. It tells a student exactly what to look for under a microscope: a "bulge" that "reaches out" to "touch" something else.
Evolution (进化). “进” means to advance; “化” means to transform. Combined, 进化literally suggests "transforming into something more advanced.”