A now-frequent experience of mine, when encountering a new word in Mandarin, is initial puzzlement, then an "Oh, ha-ha-ha!" reaction as I understand the root of the word.
All languages face the naming problem. When its speakers come across a new concept, how do they create a word to name it?
The standard way is to make a descriptive compound word using existing terms, such as the English "electronic mail" to describe the new way of sending mail electronically. [Over time, such words sometimes get shortened (as in "e-mail" and then "email"), and then finally, the new concept simply takes over the old word (e.g., "mail") and forces the old concept to find itself a new term (e.g., "snail mail").]
Compound words made from simpler earlier terms often sound primitive and unsophisticated. The English language has found a way around that, which is to use simpler terms from Latin or Greek instead, so that the new compound word actually appears sophisticated rather than primitive! E.g. "hippopotamus" ("river horse" in Greek), "omnipotent" ("all powerful" in Latin), "television" ("far" in Greek, "to see" in Latin).
The English language also steals words wholesale from other languages, including from Chinese (Cantonese more often than Mandarin).
These English words and phrases are straight lifts from Chinese dialects: gung ho, kaolin, ketchup, kowtow, lychee, pidgin, tycoon, and typhoon.
These English phrases are literal translations of Chinese expressions: brainwash, long time no see, no can do, and paper tiger.
English is an exception in not having too much of a cultural ego about accepting foreign words into itself. Many cultures prefer their own words to imports - in the name of national pride, even if the resulting compound words end up sounding a bit "primitive".
Otto von Bismarck, without doubt one of the earliest personalities with a fierce pride in German cultural identity, is believed to have proposed the authentically German "Gesundheitswiederherstellungsmittelzusammenmischungsüberhaltniskündiger" (loosely, "health restorative medium compounding specialist") as an alternative to "apothecary" or "chemist".
In India too, there are jocular references to trains as "lOhpathgaamini" (literally, "she who goes on an iron road"). A friend of mine from Kerala told me about the Sanskrit-based Malayalam word for a switch - "vidyut-gaman-aagamana-niyantraNa-yantram" (literally "electricity coming-going control device"). Not all examples from India are jokes, though. Official Hindi language communication from government sources, as opposed to the everyday Hindi spoken on the streets, is often comically unintelligible even to those with a passable knowledge of Hindi.
Chinese dialects have an inherent advantage when building up compound words. Since most simple words are monosyllabic, compound words are at most two or three syllables long, to the envy of Bismarck and assorted Sanskrit scholars.
Here's a bunch of such words that I've come across so far:
1. 有名 yǒumíng ("famous", literally "have name")
2. 要件 yàojiàn ("essentials", literally "want(ed) pieces")
3. 解释 jiěshì ("explain", literally "solution release")
4. 重要 zhòngyào ("important", literally "heavy want")
5. 有钱 yǒuqián ("rich", literally "have money")
6. 上网 shàngwǎng ("online", literally "on net")
7. 非常 fēicháng ("very", "exceptionally", literally "no often")
8. 糖尿病 tángniàobìng ("diabetes", literally "sugar urine sickness")
9. 火车 huǒchē ("train", literally "fire vehicle")
10. 自行车 zìxíngchē ("bicycle", literally "self-propelled vehicle")
11. 子宫 zǐgōng ("uterus", literally "child palace")
12. 担心 dānxīn ("worry", literally "burden heart")
13. 难以置信 nányǐ zhìxìn ("incredible", literally "difficult to put faith")
14. 该死的 gāisǐ de ("damn it!", literally "should die of")
15. 小狗 xiǎogǒu ("puppy", literally "little dog")
16. 马上 mǎshàng ("immediately", literally "horse on", or "on a horse")
17. 洗手间 xǐshǒujiān ("toilet", literally "wash hand room")
18. 手机 shǒujī ("mobile phone", literally "hand device")
19. 发烧 fāshāo ("fever", literally "emit burn")
20. 冰箱 bīngxiāng ("refrigerator", literally "ice box")
21. 加油 jiāyóu ("Come on!", literally "add oil/fuel")
22. 不要脸 bùyào liǎn ("shameless", literally "not want face")
23. 离婚 líhūn ("divorce", literally "leave marriage")
24. 动物 dòngwù ("animal", literally "moving object")
25. 兄弟姐妹 xiōngdì jiěmèi ("siblings", literally "older brother, younger brother, older sister, younger sister")
26. 音乐 yīnyuè ("music", literally "sound happy")
27. 短信 duǎnxìn ("text message", literally "short letter")
28. 面试 miànshì ("interview", literally "face test")
29. 充电 chōngdiàn ("charge", literally "fill electricity")
30. 充值 chōngzhí ("top up", literally "fill value")
31. 爱国 àiguó ("patriotic", literally "love country")
32. 信用卡 xìnyòngkǎ ("credit card", literally "faith/trust use card")
33. 救命 jiùmìng ("help!", literally "save life")
34. 观光 guānguāng ("go sightseeing", literally "look at lights")
35.地势 dìshì ("terrain" or "topography", literally "land level")
36.维他命 wéi tā mìng ("vitamin", literally "preserve his life". Both sound and meaning match!)
37.霸凌 bàlíng ("bullying", from 霸道凌辱 bàdào língrù "overbearing humiliation". Both sound and meaning match!)
38.多邻国 duō lín guó ("Duolingo", literally "Many neighbouring countries". So apt for a language learning app!)
39.太空 tài kōng ("space", literally "too vacant/empty", or "extreme emptiness".)
40.英雄 yīngxióng ("hero", literally "English male". This surprised me at first, then I learnt that 英 yīng (courageous) was chosen as the phonetically closest syllable to "Eng" in 英国 yīngguó ("England"). So it's actually the other way around. 英雄 yīngxióng means "courageous male" or "hero", and the association with England came later.)
41.少年 shàonián ("teenager"/"youth", literally "few/less year".)
42.抹黑 mǒhēi ("shame, smear", literally "apply black".)
43.对手 duìshǒu ("opponent", literally "opposing hand".)
44.互惠 hùhuì ("reciprocity", literally "mutual benefit". Note that the character for 互 hù "mutual" is aptly drawn as an ambigram, i.e., it can be turned upside-down and still look the same!)
45.情结 qíngjié ("complex" (psychological), literally "feeling knot". E.g., China views India as having a 大国情结 dàguó qíngjié ("big country complex"))
46.金星 jīnxīng ("Venus", literally "gold star")
47.奖金 jiǎngjīn ("bonus", literally "prize gold")
48.烤串 kǎo chuàn ("kebab", literally "roast strung together". Note how the character 串 chuàn which means "string together" is a visual representation of the idea)
And then there's a separate category altogether for all the electrical gadgets that get renamed from pre-existing concepts.
1. 电话 diànhuà ("telephone", literally "electric talk")
2. 电脑 diànnǎo ("computer", literally "electric brain")
3. 电影 diànyǐng ("movie", literally "electric picture")
4. 电视 diànshì ("TV", literally "electric see")
5. 电梯 diàntī ("elevator", literally "electric ladder")
6. 电报 diànbào ("telegram", literally "electric report")
7. 电子邮件 diànzǐ yóujiàn ("email", literally "electronic mail")
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