加兰 (jiā lán) — (place name) Garant (city in Russia); (surname) Galan

Definition

A Russian place name and surname transliterated into Chinese. Learners will mostly meet it in geography or biography contexts, not in everyday Chinese.

noun
(place name) Garant (city in Russia)(surname) Galan

Examples

  • 加兰。
    jiā lán Shì é luó sī de yí gè chéng shì.
    Galan is a city in Russia.
  • 加兰，。
    Tā xìng jiā lán, shì cóng é luó sī lái de.
    His surname is Galan, and he is from Russia.
  • 加兰。
    jiā lán Zhè ge dì míng zài zhōng wén lǐ bú tài cháng jiàn.
    The place name Galan is not very common in Chinese.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

加 pairs 力 and 口. In one explanation 力 is strength and 口 is the mouth, meaning exaggeration; in another 力 is plowing effort and 口 is breath or exclamation, meaning extra effort.

Open 加 →

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 蘭; 兰 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艹Written in full as艸cǎoplant
Sound part声符shēngfú
闌
闌lán蘭lán
Same sound today

In the traditional form 蘭, 艹 marks it as a plant and 闌 stands for the sound; the simplified 兰 is a later shorthand, not the original parts.

Open 兰 →

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