單音字

單音字

1. character with a single pronunciation (unlike others having at least two)

   「舞幽壑之潛蛟，泣孤舟之嫠婦」皆是單音字。 [MSC, trad.]
   「舞幽壑之潜蛟，泣孤舟之嫠妇」皆是单音字。 [MSC, simp.]

   “wǔ yōu hè zhī qián jiāo, qì gū zhōu zhī lí fù” jiēshì dānyīnzì. [Pinyin]

   All these 12 characters (taken from the Ode on the Red Cliffs) are monophonic.

Some characters like 壑 mentioned above has more than one modern pronunciation, which is precisely a case of the so-called polyphonic monosemous words, mostly due to anciently belonging to the entering tone in Middle Chinese, e.g. 跌, or to the level tone, e.g. 叔, after its modern pronunciation being regulated by the authorities who prescribe the standard. However, even the standard one may vary with the context, giving birth to alternative readings vernacular and literary. For example in Taiwan, 轍 / 辙 is read chè in literary context or person's name, e.g. 蘇轍 (Sū Chè), but zhé vernacularly, which is the only reading in Mainland. Generally, a character can still be a 單音字 / 单音字 even if its pronunciation differs in Mainland and Taiwan, like the case of 壑, yet in the case of 轍 / 辙, Taiwanese may probably consider it a 多音字 (duōyīnzì, “polyphone”) while mainland Chinese may not. Also, not to be confused with 單音詞／单音词 (“monosyllabic word”).