I'd be interested to hear what Chinese think about the term "dreamer."  In the sense of..."Oh, she's such a dreamer."..."He's always dreaming."

I get the sense, based on conversations I've had with Chinese, that dreaming is not a good thing in China.  That dreaming is like hoping in vain...that dreamers are not realistic.  Maybe Chinese are more pratical than Westerners?  Or maybe there's another Chinese word for this kind of dreaming?

I know that China wouldn't be where it is today without dreamers, so I'm curious how "dreamers," "dreaming," etc. are thought of in China, from a cultural perspective.

Hi calkins,

It's a very good point, which reminds me of a phrase "白日做梦" (day dreaming). As you wrote, the single character "梦" does not necessarily mean "a dream" that foreign learners usually image.

Probably, Chinese people would say "我有一个梦想 (meng4 xiang3)" or "我有一个理想 (li3 xiang3)" when meaning "I have a dream" in English. In Japanese, 夢 is used in the both senses, "梦" and "理想/梦想".

Speaking of 梦,  There's also an interesting association with 兰 (Orchid) that brings 梦兰 or 兰梦 :

梦兰 (beeing pregnant)

兰梦 (seeing yourself pregnant or "foretell the birth of a son" in the ABC Dictionary)

Unconfirmed Speculation : As 兰 also means Parfum, 梦兰 could mean "dreaming the parfum of the futur baby" (which happens when you're pregnant).

Hi kimiik,

You've shown us interesting words. I've just found a relevant explanation on the Internet. It seems that there are a few definitions for  兰梦 and 梦兰.

美好的吉祥之梦称兰梦。女子怀孕雅称梦兰或征兰。

征兰

pregnant = journey of the orchid? attack of the orchid?

What a language!

Hi henning,

Don't aks me why! All I can say is that "征" has several meanings, such as "recruit", "levy", "prove", "sign, indication" and "show". What do you like best among them?

Other Unconfirmed Speculation :

I did a quick search about 兰 and it may have a wider meaning in the Buddhist tradition.

The original name of 中元节 (the Ghost festival) is 盂兰节 (short name for 盂兰盆节).

I only know little about the Buddhist tradition, but 兰盆 (feast of All Souls in the ABC dictionary) seems to be the place where all the unincarnated spirits and gosts live.

In this tradition, a woman who received an unincarned spirit for her futur baby should have dreamed of 兰盆 to get this spirit.

梦兰盆 shorten in 梦兰 was then synonymous with pregnancy.

Hi kimiik,

In Japan, the Ghost festival is called "お盆(o-bon)", and it is a shortened form of "盂兰盆" which is a transliteration of the Sanskrit word "Ullambona" meaning "deliverance from suffering".

Buddhism terms in Chinese are mainly transcribed from original Sanskrit words, such as 南无阿弥陀佛 (namo-amitaayus) or 菩萨 (bodhisattva). The same goes for 佛教经典 (sutra) in Chinese.

pregnant = journey of the orchid? attack of the orchid?

What a language!

The English word "orchid" comes from the Greek word for "testicle," because of the shape of the roots of the plant. 

Maybe the Chinese made a similar connection?