北欧 (Běi Oū) — Northern Europe | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

Northern Europe

北欧。
Běi Oū Shì yí gè fēng jǐng yōu měi de dì qū.
Northern Europe is a region with beautiful scenery.
北欧。
Jīn nián xià tiān wǒ dǎ suàn qù Běi Oū lǚ yóu.
This summer I plan to travel to Northern Europe.
北欧、。
Běi Oū De guó jiā bāo kuò ruì diǎn, nuó wēi hé dān mài.
Northern European countries include Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

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.

北欧 combines 北 'north' with 欧 'Europe' to name northern Europe.

Characters in this word

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

The form 北 shows two people standing back to back. It originally meant 'back'.

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 歐; 欧 is its simplified writing.

區欠歐

Meaning part形符xíngfú

欠欠qiànto yawn; to exhale

Sound part声符shēngfú

區

區qū歐Ōu

Same sound today

The traditional form 歐 pairs 區 as a sound with 欠 (to yawn; to exhale), and was originally written for vomiting; simplified 欧 is a later shorthand.