foxtail millet while that in the south indicates specifically the rice. There are many more example of this type like 脚 and 闻.

Accordingly, we can see that the original meanings and the present meanings can’t coexist in the transfer of words meanings. Once the new indication is recognized and used by the general public, the original one will disappear. But there are some relationships between them, maybe related or similar. The transfer is the result of the change in sememe. The reason is complicated to explain but what we know is that the contradictions between the two meanings developed constantly and lead to the transfer finally.

In specific, there are many types of transfer in words meanings. The first one is the ordinary transfer from meaning A to meaning B. For instance, in the past, 行李 indicated the messengers or emissaries communicate with another state. But in modern Chinese, students who study Mandarin online should know it means the luggage like suitcase you bring when you go out. Another kind of transfer is to change from the specific things to describe the nature, forming the abstract meaning. It is the result of the development in people’s thinking ways.

One kind of transfer that the students should know is about the praise coloring. In some cases, the emotional coloring of the words will change from commendatory to derogatory sense. For example, Chinese people may call the children 小鬼 to show the intimacy and the meaning of 爪牙 changed from the general in ancient times into the accomplice of evildoers.

When attending to intensive Mandarin course in China to learn, the students may also learn that the transfer of words meanings is related to the polysemy of the words. Therefore, for the words have several meanings, we can analyze from the aspect of semantic change as well as the ambiguity. Due to the long process of words evolution, the new meanings are losing the relationship with eth original ones, forming the differentiation of words meanings.