How to Say "Gorilla" in Chinese

大猩猩

dàxīngxing

The Mandarin word for "gorilla" is 大猩猩 (dàxīngxing).

The word 大猩猩 is used to refer to the ape known as a gorilla.

Meaning: ape (noun)

How do you pronounce it?

dàxīngxing

The character 猩 contains the 'dog' radical 犭 on the left. In ancient Chinese classification, many mammals were grouped under this radical regardless of their biological family.
Because 'gorilla' is a non-native animal to China, the name 大猩猩 is a purely descriptive construction rather than a transliteration of the English sound.
The word 猩猩 is a reduplicative compound, which is common for animals in Mandarin. This creates a rhythmic quality that can make the word sound more descriptive or affectionate to native speakers.

你爸爸是一个大猩猩。
Your father is a gorilla.
This sentence uses 大猩猩 to demonstrate the noun in a simple sentence.
Tatoeba #5133092 by thomasstrand, translation #5133106 by thomasstrand
这个大猩猩真壮观！
This gorilla is really magnificent!
看那只猩猩，真有趣！
Look at that gorilla, it's really interesting!
大猩猩的力量非常大。
Dàxīngxing de lìliàng fēicháng dà.
The strength of a gorilla is very great.
博物馆里有一只大猩猩的模型。
Bówùguǎn lǐ yǒu yì zhǐ dàxīngxing de móxíng.
There is a model of a gorilla in the museum.

Haoran and Yuting are visiting the zoo.

梓涵 Zihan

雨婷，你看那只大猩猩！
Yǔ tíng, nǐ kàn nà zhī dà xīng xīng!
Yuting, look at that gorilla!
志强 Zhiqiang

哇，它看起来好强壮。
Wa, tā kàn qǐ lái hǎo qiáng zhuàng.
Wow, it looks so strong.
梓涵 Zihan

它的动作很像人类。
Tā de dòng zuò hěn xiàng rén lái.
Its movements are very similar to humans.
志强 Zhiqiang

确实，太有趣了。
Què shí, tài yǒu qù le.
Indeed, it is so interesting.

Sources

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