How to translate this Chinese word:顿悟

jiangcheng1985
May 03, 2010, 03:20 PM posted in General Discussion

Hello,dear poddies

It has puzzled me for at least 3 days when trying to find the English equivalent about this Chinese word:顿悟 dun4wu5

他顿悟了一切.Suddenly,everything is clear to him.......

I just paraphrased the sentence.....it's acceptable but not recommendable for language learning...

Can someone tell me how to translate 顿悟

顿means "suddenly",or"for a short while",as in停顿(pause for a few moments) 悟 means understand,as in 领悟,醒悟,觉悟...

So.....

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jiangcheng1985
May 03, 2010, 03:25 PM

dun4wu4。sorry..

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Tal
May 03, 2010, 03:34 PM

Perhaps epiphany comes closest, though there are also phrases like "a flash of realization", or "a moment of enlightenment".

Epiphany is a noun of course, I see that 顿悟 may also be a verb. It would then be best to simply say something like: 'it suddenly dawned on me' or 'I had a sudden flash of understanding'.

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jiangcheng1985

Good,thanks mate.@_@

epiphany

epiphany (UNDERSTANDING) /ɪˈpɪf.ən.i/

noun [C or U] LITERARY

when you suddenly feel that you understand, or suddenly become aware of, something that is very important to you or a powerful religious experience

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jiangcheng1985
May 03, 2010, 03:37 PM

Good,thanks mate.@_@

epiphany

epiphany (UNDERSTANDING) /ɪˈpɪf.ən.i/

noun [C or U] LITERARY

when you suddenly feel that you understand, or suddenly become aware of, something that is very important to you or a powerful religious experience

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changye
May 04, 2010, 01:21 AM

Hi jinagcheng1985

Eureka!


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jiangcheng1985

Thanks for your help.

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Tal
May 04, 2010, 02:25 AM

呵呵, that works too!

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jiangcheng1985
May 04, 2010, 02:26 AM

Thanks for your help.