後 – Hou4 – Back, Behind, Rear, Afterwards, After, Later

最後 – Zui4 Hou4 – Most Back — Final, Last

That’s right! This is the FINAL “Word of the Day”! Clearly I can’t go on forever, and I figured one thousand three hundred and eighteen is a nice round number to stop at. Or it may have something to do with the new year and all that. Happy 2007, by the way!

Here are a few sites for those of you who need some help breaking the addiction: our old favorite 中文.com (has a word a day feature), Oneaday (a Chinese proverb every day), and Audio Word of the Day (multi-lingual!).

I’ll still be here, of course, posting my normal stuff, possibly a little more often. Some of them might even be Chinese words … just not one every day.

Thanks to everybody who has ever read even a single one of these, and special thanks to everybody who wrote in saying they liked “Word of the Day”. I was always amazed to get any readers at all other than friends and family, and pretty much flabbergasted when anybody actually LIKED it.

再見！ – Zai4 Jian4! – Good Bye!

湄 – Mei2 – Shore, Brink, Edge

曇 – Tan2 – Dark Clouds

瞇 – Mi1 – To Squint

芴 – Wu4 – Fluorine

衿 – Jin1 – Collar, Lapel

互 – Hu4 – Mutual

互惠 – Hu4 Hui4 – Mutual Favor — Reciprocal

跪 – Gui4 – Kneel

蕪 – Wu2 – Undergrowth

荒蕪 – Huang1 Wu2 – Uncultivated Undergrowth — Wasteland

蕪菁 – Wu2 Jing1 – Undergrowth Leek — Turnip

癰 – Yong1 – Carbuncle

鴿 – Ge1 – Pigeon

和平鴿 – He2 Ping2 Ge1 – Peace Pigeon — Dove

斬 – Zhan3 – Behead, Chop

筠 – Yun2 – Skin Of Bamboo

熔 – Rong2 – To Smelt, Fuse

We found a secret new good restaurant in North Haven: Formosa. It’s been open just 2 months, and isn’t even in the online yellow pages yet (132 Middletown Avenue, for your reference). Attracted simply by the name, we went in and recognized the owner. Turns out that Formosa is brought to you by the award-winning team behind Szechuan Delight, our favorite local Chinese place! The new restaurant is fusion. For example, my mango chicken came with a side of mashed potatoes! I’m sometimes a fusion skeptic, but in this case I think everything has fused correctly. Recommended.

廈 – Sha4 – Tall Building

塹 – Qian4 – Moat Around A City

蝠 – Fu2 – Bat

蝙蝠 – Bian1 Fu2 – Bat

陡 – Dou3 – Steep

糖 – Tang2 – Sugar, Sweets

糖果 – Tang2 Guo3 – Sweet Fruit — Candy

Trying to see how to say fudge in Chinese, I found the wikipedia page for 糖果. It lists fudge, and a few others, but the ultimate Chinese/English candy rosetta stone web page apparently has yet to be created. By the way, fudge is 法奇軟糖 – Fa3 Qi2 Ruan3 Tang2 – “Fudge” Soft Candy.

渣 – Zha1 – Dregs, Sediment

Possibly the best part of french-press brewed coffee: that last magic sip that you can CHEW.

筵 – Yan2 – Bamboo Mat

鶩 – Wu4 – Tame Duck

I didn’t know you could.

鐲 – Zhuo2 – Bracelet

手鐲 – Shou3 Zhuo2 – Hand Bracelet — Bracelet

旱 – Han4 – Drought

錚 – Zheng1 – Clang (onomatopoeia)

匣 – Xia2 – Box

顱 – Lu2 – Forehead

顱骨 – Lu2 Gu2 – Forehead Bone — Skull

暮 – Mu4 – Evening, Sunset, Dusk

暮色 – Mu4 Se4 – Dusk Color — Twilight

檸 – Ning2 – Lemon

檸檬 – Ning2 Meng2 – Lemon

萊姆 – Lai2 Mu3 – Lime

沛 – Pei4 – Copious, Abundant

充沛 – Chong1 Pei4 – Full Abundant — Bountiful, Plentiful

嘰 – Ji1 – Grumble

雹 – Bao2 – Hail

贅 – Zhui4 – Superfluous

贅婿 – Zhui4 Xu4 – Superfluous Son-in-Law — Son-in-law Who Lives At Wife’s Parent’s House

魎 – Liang3 – Sprite, Fairy

毆 – Ou1 – Brawl, Beat

毆打 – Ou1 Da3 – Beat Hit — Beat Up

橄 – Gan3 – Olive

橄欖 – Gan3 Lan3 – Olive

橄欖球 – Gan3 Lan3 Qiu2 – Football

醋 – Cu4 – Vinegar

糖醋 – Tang2 Cu4 – Sugar Vinegar — Sweet and Sour

吃醋 – Chi1 Cu4 – Eat Vinegar — Jealousy

撬 – Qiao4 – Lift, Open, Pick

撬鎖 – Qiao4 Suo3 – Pick Lock

Big Thanksgiving accomplishment: I taught my four year old nephew how to pick a small lock with a paperclip. I can only hope that this sets him on an inexorable path to a life of crime.

疤 – Ba1 – Scar

疤痕 – Ba1 Hen2 – Scar

萎 – Wei3 – Wither