八成 ba1cheng2 (80 percent!)

bodawei
 June 01, 2011, 08:08 AM posted in General Discussion

Many people will be very familiar with 成 chéng, mainly from its meaning 'to be become [something]', but did you know that it means 10 percent? 

People commonly rate their mobile phones on a scale from 五成 (50 percent) 到十成 (100 percent) based on how old they are. Less than 五成 is 旧 (don't bother measuring it.) My phone is 旧. 

So, 成人，Q: 你的手机多久？。。。A: 八成。 

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zhenlijiang
 June 01, 2011, 11:35 AM

Hi Bodawei, I heard it in the movie "Return to the 36th Chamber". But this thing about rating how new/old your cel phone is is new to me. Interesting!

... how does that work exactly?

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bodawei

Well, I don't think that it is hard science, but if you have a flash new expensive phone you would describe it as 八成 or 九成; in China if it is a couple of years old it is probably 五成 or 六成。 :)

Mine is old technology so it is just 旧。

Thanks for the movie reference: in what context did they use it??

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zhenlijiang

Ah OK I was misunderstanding. So it‘s not about how long we’ve had and been using our smartphones, but about how new/old the model is.

I linked to my own comment, but Trevorb gives the context in his original post.