伦敦德里 (lún dūn dé lǐ) — Londonderry (city in Northern Ireland)

Definition

A place name for the city in Northern Ireland, also called 德里 or Deri. Note the pinyin is non-standard (lún duì).

noun
Londonderry (city in Northern Ireland)

Examples

  • 伦敦德里。
    lún dūn dé lǐ Shì běi ài ěr lán de yí gè chéng shì.
    Londonderry is a city in Northern Ireland.
  • 伦敦德里。
    Wǒ jì huà míng nián qù lún dūn dé lǐ lǚ xíng.
    I plan to travel to Londonderry next year.
  • 伦敦德里。
    lún dūn dé lǐ De lì shǐ fēi cháng yōu jiǔ.
    Londonderry has a very long history.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
音译yīnyìTransliteration

The characters spell the sound of a foreign word; their individual meanings play no part.

伦敦德里 transliterates Londonderry, so the characters carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 倫; 伦 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
Sound part声符shēngfú
侖
侖lún倫lún
Same sound today

The traditional form 倫 uses 人 to show people and 侖 to give its sound; the simplified 伦 is a later shorthand.

Open 伦 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 亯亯xiǎngancestral shrine
  • 羊羊yángsheep

The form behind 敦 combines 亯, an ancestral shrine, with 羊, a sheep, showing a cooked goat as a sacrifice.

Open 敦 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
彳彳chìroad
Sound part声符shēngfú
惪
惪dé德dé
Same sound today

德 combines 彳, a road, with 惪, a component meaning virtue that also supplies the sound.

Open 德 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 裡; 里 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 里 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (里, 里面) it is 裡; in others (公里) it is 里 or 裏.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
衤Written in full as衣yīclothes
Sound part声符shēngfú
里
里lǐ裡lǐ
Same sound today

The form 裡 pairs 衤 (clothes) with 里 as a sound component.

Open 里 →

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