real

Definitions

real comes straight from Latin reālis ('relating to things'), built on rēs ('thing'). To be real is to belong to the world of actual things — to exist in fact rather than in imagination. That single idea splits into its two everyday senses: 'actually existing' (a real danger) and 'genuine, not fake' (real gold).

Common Collocations

• 1.real life现实生活
• 2.the real world真实世界
• 3.real estate房地产
• 4.a real danger真正的危险
• 5.real time实时
• 6.for real当真，真的

Example Sentences

• 1.

  Is this a real diamond or just a clever imitation?

• 2.

  Climate change is a real and urgent threat to coastal cities.

• 3.

  She finally met her favorite author in real life.

• 4.

  Tell me what really happened — I want the real story.

Easily Confused

real vs. true — both translate to 真 in Chinese, but real is about existence (a real person, real gold = it exists / isn't fake), while true is about accuracy of a statement (a true story = it really happened, the answer is true). You can't say 'a true diamond' or 'the real answer to 2+2.'

Synonym Comparison