南安普顿 (nán ān pǔ dùn) — Southampton (city in England)

Definition

noun
Southampton (city in England)

Examples

  • 南安普顿。
    Wǒ xià ge yuè yào qù nán ān pǔ dùn liú xué.
    I'm going to study abroad in Southampton next month.
  • 南安普顿。
    nán ān pǔ dùn Shì yīng guó nán bù de yí gè gǎng kǒu chéng shì.
    Southampton is a port city in southern England.
  • 南安普顿，。
    Tā de dà xué zài nán ān pǔ dùn, wǒ men qù nián qù wán guò.
    His university is in Southampton; we went there to visit last year.

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.

南nán
安ān
普pǔ
顿dùn

南安普顿 spells Southampton; the characters carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 南 →

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
宀宀mián
Sound part声符shēngfú
女
女nǚ安ān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 安, 宀 sits above a seated 女 on a cushion; 宀 is the meaning part, 女 is the sound part, and the character originally meant sitting at ease.

Open 安 →

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

  • 並並bìngside by side
  • 日日rìsun

普 is made of 日 (sun) and 並 (side by side).

Open 普 →

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 頓; 顿 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yè
Sound part声符shēngfú
屯
屯tún頓dùn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 頓 combines 屯, drawn as a kneeling person's head, with 頁, and expresses a bow or kowtow. The simplified 顿 replaces 頁 with 页.

Open 顿 →

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