Abstract：Euphemism is a common linguistic phenomenn that exists in every human language, “it’s an appropriate linguistics form created by human to obtain ideal effects of communication in the social association.” The feature of euphemism is to ues an inexplicit and pleasant expession to avoid some harsh of offensive expressions.

  There are a large number of euphemisms in both English and Chinese languages.This dissertation aims to make a comparative study of English and Chinese euphemisms.It is composed of four parts:The first part introduces the origin of euphemisms.Due to language taboos and need of politeness,euphemisms come into being.The second part analyzes the difference in the content and scope of euphemisms in the fields of age,poverty,occupation,name and address.The third part gives a brief introduction of the convergence of English and Chinese euphemisms.Through the comparative study of English and Chinese euphemisms,it is helpful for us to fully understand the language and culture in the east and west,and it is also of great significance in intercultural communication.

Key words: euphemisms;  comparative study;  culture

中文摘要：委婉语是人类各语种均存在的一种语言现象，“使人们在社会交往中为谋求理想的交际效果而创造的一种适当的语言形式。”其特征是用一种不用明说的，能使人感到愉快的表达方式来取代一个过于率直的具有冒犯性的表达。

英汉两种语言都有大量的委婉语。本文旨在通过英汉委婉语的分析与比较，来揭示两者的差异。文章分为三部分：第一，介绍委婉语的来源。由于语言禁忌以及礼貌的需要，委婉语应运而生。第二，通过对比英汉两种语言中有关年龄、贫困、职业、姓名称谓以及死亡等领域的委婉语，来分析英汉委婉语在表现内容及范围方面的差异。第三，简单介绍一下英汉委婉语的趋同现象。对比研究英汉委婉语的特点，有利于加深我们对中西文化与语言的认识，更好的进行跨文化交际。

关键词：委婉语；对比分析；文化