Abstract:

In the process of review and proofreading of papers in engineering geology, it is frequently found some authors mix up some words or use wrong words. This paper summarizes several groups of confusable words. Through consulting relevant reference books and some authoritative professional publications, and refering to the results of China National Committee for Terms in Sciences and Technologies, we sum up and analyze these words from application in engineering geology. We found the confuse reasons are as follows: (1) Different usage of Chinese characters, such as “nian” and “zhan”. (2) Unclear conventions, such as “sand”. (3) Wrong use because of same pronunciation and similar font, such as “rock core”. (4) Improperly Chinese name translation from English, such as “Mohr”. This study concludes the reasonable pattern of these words and provides reference for authors and editors in related disciplines.

Key words: engineering geology, scientific and technological terms, clay, sand, cohesion, rock core, Mohr