To study English or to study English?

Ying has two pronunciations, yǐ ng and Chè ng.

First of all, let's understand the pronunciation and meaning of English. When pronounced as' y ǐ ng', the original meaning is the name of the capital of Chu, which was also the capital of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Later, the word was extended to "county" and also referred to ancient administrative divisions, such as "state", "government" and "county". In modern Chinese, when "ying" is pronounced as "y ǐ ng", it is often used in ancient place names, such as "Li Zhongying" and "Dangyang Ying".

When pronounced as' chè ng', its original meaning is' nail', which is rarely used in modern Chinese, but it can still be seen in ancient documents.

There is a saying about the origin of winning, which comes from the word "nail" in ancient Chinese. Because "nail" also means nailing into wood in ancient times, the font of winning looks like the image of a nail nailed to wood, so some people think that the pronunciation of "y ǐ ng" is similar to that of "nail".

In addition, there are some disputes about the pronunciation of "ying" in history. It is said that in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the then Ming Taizu, ordered the pronunciation of Ying to be changed to "Cheng" because his name was related to Ying, but whether this statement is true or not has not been confirmed.

It is said that in the Tang Dynasty, an official made a joke because he didn't know the word "English". At that time, the emperor asked him to handle some official documents, one of which was called Yingzhou, but the official didn't know the word Yingzhou.

So he found a subordinate and asked about the pronunciation of the word "should". After the subordinates told him, they mistakenly thought it was "Ezhou", so they changed the official document from "Yingzhou" to "Ezhou", which made a big joke.

In daily life, the word "Ying" is not frequently used, but it often appears in ancient documents, historical records and ancient poems, such as Zhong Liying and Dangyangying. At the same time, the word "English" is also a common word in some place names and names, such as Zhong Liying, Xiang Ying and Liu Ying.

Generally speaking, "Ying" has two pronunciations, namely "y ǐ ng" and "ch è ng", among which "y ǐ ng" is a common pronunciation in modern Chinese, while "ch è ng" is rare.