比如說 vs. 譬如說
The first few times in Taiwan that I heard (what I thought was) 比如說 bǐrú shuō, I wondered why 比 bǐ sounded like pǐ. I just chalked it up as the Taiwanese accent.
Then I came across it in writing, 譬如說 pìrú shuō. Woohoo, I was hearing a 'p' sound, but I was confused by the use of a different character.
I've compared them on MDBG ... same exact meaning.
I've compared them on nciku ... 比如說 has 6 sentence examples, 譬如說 has 0.
I'm just assuming it's another one of those Taiwan/Mainland differences, but I'm curious if anyone has a better understanding of the difference. Is 譬如說 used at all on the Mainland?
譬 means "metaphor, simile, example".
比 means "to compare, liken; comparison; than".
Changye, I need you to come back! :)
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