北美 (Běi Měi) — North America

Definition

noun
North America

Examples

  • 北美。
    Míng nián wǒ dǎ suàn qù Běi Měi lǚ xíng.
    I plan to travel to North America next year.
  • 北美。
    Běi Měi De dōng tiān bǐ ōu zhōu lěng dé duō.
    Winter in North America is much colder than in Europe.
  • 北美,。
    Tā zài Běi Měi shēng huó le shí nián, yīng yǔ shuō dé hěn hǎo.
    He lived in North America for ten years and speaks English very well.

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.

北běinorth
美měiAmerica

北 means north and 美 means America, together naming the northern part of the Americas.

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'.

Open 北 →

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

美 shows 大, a person, wearing 羊, a headdress of feathers or ram's horn.

Open 美 →

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