克拉科夫 (Kè lā kē fū) — Krakow (city in Poland)

Definition

noun
Krakow (city in Poland)

Examples

  • 克拉科夫。
    Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù Kè lā kē fū lǚ yóu.
    I want to travel to Krakow next year.
  • 克拉科夫。
    Kè lā kē fū Shì bō lán de yí zuò lì shǐ míng chéng.
    Krakow is a famous historical city in Poland.
  • 克拉科夫，。
    Tā zài Kè lā kē fū zhù le wǔ nián, fēi cháng xǐ huan nà lǐ de wén huà.
    He lived in Krakow for five years and really liked the culture there.

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.

克kè
拉lā
科kē
夫fū

克拉科夫 spells Krakow, and the characters carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 克 →

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
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
立
立lì拉lā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

拉 pairs 手 (hand) with 立, a component that supplies the sound.

Open 拉 →

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
斗斗dòumeasuring tool
Sound part声符shēngfú
禾
禾hé科kē
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

科 pairs 禾, which gives the hé sound, with 斗, a measuring tool.

Open 科 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

Open 夫 →

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