凡尔赛宫 (fán ěr sài gōng) — Palace of Versailles

Definition

noun

Palace of Versailles

Measure word · 座

Examples

，凡尔赛宫。
Wǒ men shǔ jià qù le fǎ guó, cān guān le fán ěr sài gōng.
We went to France during summer vacation and visited the Palace of Versailles.
凡尔赛宫。
fán ěr sài gōng Shì fǎ guó zuì zhù míng de gōng diàn zhī yī.
The Palace of Versailles is one of the most famous palaces in France.
，凡尔赛宫。
Zài zhè fú huà lǐ, nǐ néng kàn dào fán ěr sài gōng de quán mào.
In this painting, you can see a full view of the Palace of Versailles.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

凡尔赛Versailles

凡fán尔ěr赛sài

宫gōngpalace

凡尔赛 transcribes the French name and 宫 means palace, together naming that palace.

Characters in this word

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

Open 凡 →

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 爾; 尔 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 爾, simplified as 尔, originally drew cloth on a loom with crossing threads. It was borrowed for its sound to write “you,” so the picture is unrelated to that meaning.

Open 尔 →

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 賽; 赛 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

貝貝bèishell

Sound part声符shēngfú

塞

塞sāi賽sài

Same sound today

The traditional form 賽 uses 貝 (shell) for meaning and 塞 for sound. The simplified 赛 is a later shorthand.

Open 赛 →

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