I'm not sure how translators translate the word,orc、monster、demonic beast or something else?It is a strange animal or a humanoid transformed from an animal or something else that appears in almost every XianXia novel.I think you should understand what I'm talking about now. In the original novel,this word may be used in conjunction with other words,such as YaoMo（妖魔）、YaoGuai（妖怪）、YaoJing（妖精）、YaoShou（妖兽）,they might look different,but in novels,they are the same thing,the difference between them is at most:the power level is different,or are they a humanoid.But this is inaccurate. To study this problem,first we have to figure out what is Yao. At the beginning,Yao's concept is not specific,it is abstract.In the view of the ancient Chinese,thing or phenomenons in an abnormal or singular state,that is Yao.It does not refer to an organism.But with the development of times,Yao's concept is becoming more and more broad,images of monsters and orcs that you are familiar with begin to appear.So it can be used independently or used in conjunction with other words,because it could be an adjective, an adverb, or a noun. So what are YaoMo（妖魔）、YaoGuai（妖怪）、YaoJing（妖精）、YaoShou（妖兽）all(I mean in those novels)? 1.YaoMo（妖魔）,Mo means demon、devil、evil spirit,in China, this word comes from Buddhism.YaoMo doesn't have to be an animal before,in novels and stories this represents the evil supernatural force or the evil creature. 2.YaoGuai（妖怪）,Guai means monster.In general,YaoGuai is the kind of thing you know most about in novels. 3.YaoJing（妖精）,Jing means fairy、spirit.At some time it does not distinguish YaoJing from YaoGuai,they are thought to be the same,and sometimes it was thought of as something like a goblin、an elf. 4.YaoShou（妖兽）,Shou means animal、beast.YaoShou refers to those beasts with powerful or magical power,that's what the MC often hunt in the early stages of the novel. In fact,this text may not be very strict,because the study of mysticology in China is very vague,it's hard to sort out a trusted timeline like the previous article.What I am referring to is the most credible statement I can find,it may not be consistent with some novel author's own setting,I hope you can correct the mistakes of this text. Thank you for reading this text with poor English and Chinglish,see you again.
Because I'm curious about what the original text of those English words are,reading English version XianXia novels is like reading western magic novels.
Interesting, sheds a new Light on the world of cultivation term Thx for the info btw, can't say I wasn't entertained.
Oh, depends on the translator I guess... You are from China, then? Some novels use the same words like you listed, some don't... Depends on which one you read
Thank you, and I also know that this text is a little redundant and confused... Yes, I am a Chinese.I also know that a lot of things should depend on novels and translators
Just here for additional knowledge. So great to have threads like this. Sharing information and all. Chinese seems like a fine language
Chinese is going to be imprecise because a lot of concepts are expressed by the combination of two characters. Each character by itself may not mean much in relation to the concept at hand, and so it can be hard to define them. "魔" is another good example of this. It usually means demon or monster, but it's also the root for "magic". Then again, it's not all that different in English. Take a word like "fairy". The popular connotation is a small humanoid with wings, like Tinkerbell in Peter Pan. But it can also mean that fae of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, the sidhe, the pookas, the boggarts, and the like. These often aren't anything like the whimsical fairies that we commonly think of.
Especially the words related to mysticology.A lot of them are hard to explain,many more are difficult to trace back to the source. You'll get used to it later. Almost,but YaoGuai tends to be more to the orcs,YaoJing tends to be more to the elves. Indeed, the correspondence is not easy. Besides,魔 first writes 磨 in Chinese,represents polish and seduction,but not some kind of supernatural force with good and evil attributes.The evolution of the writing of this word related to government's attitude towards Maichaeism