What does “副歌” mean in Chinese?

教你听懂歌曲里的副歌段落

WhatsAppGmailTelegramEmail

B1 Chinese listening practice · Taiwanese Mandarin · Curated for intermediate learners

💡 Did you know?
副歌 (fùgē)
Chinese music vocabulary
chorus (of a song)“ — literally the ”secondary song

The host of this clip says plenty of people sing their whole lives without knowing the word for the chorus: 副歌 (fùgē), literally the “secondary song.” The catchiest part of the song gets the humbler name because the verse — 主歌, the “main song” — carries the story, while the chorus is the refrain that answers it. 副 is the same “vice / deputy” prefix as in 副总统 (vice president) and 副作用 (side effects).

So at KTV, the part everyone belts along to is officially the “deputy.” The 主/副 pair organizes lots of Chinese: 主食 (staple food) vs. 副食 (side dishes), 主业 vs. 副业 (day job vs. side hustle). Learn the pair once and you can rank almost anything.

Explore Taiwanese Mandarin Comprehensible Input on Reelang

Open Chinese hub