卡斯特里 (kǎ sī tè lǐ) — Castries (capital of Saint Lucia)

Definition

noun
Castries (capital of Saint Lucia)

Examples

  • 卡斯特里。
    kǎ sī tè lǐ Shì shèng lú xī yà de shǒu dū.
    Castries is the capital of Saint Lucia.
  • 卡斯特里。
    Wǒ zài dì tú shàng zhǎo dào le kǎ sī tè lǐ.
    I found Castries on the map.
  • 卡斯特里。
    kǎ sī tè lǐ Shì yí gè měi lì de hǎi gǎng chéng shì.
    Castries is a beautiful harbor city.

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.

卡kǎ
斯sī
特tè
里lǐ

The characters only spell a foreign place name and carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

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

卡 is made from 上 (up) and 下 (down), with their horizontal lines fused, showing something squeezed between above and below.

Open 卡 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 斯 →

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
牛牛niúox
Sound part声符shēngfú
寺
寺sì特tè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape combines 牛 (ox) with 寺, which gives the pronunciation; it originally meant a large bull.

Open 特 →

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 裡; 里 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 里 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (里, 里面) it is 裡; in others (公里) it is 里 or 裏.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
衤Written in full as衣yīclothes
Sound part声符shēngfú
里
里lǐ裡lǐ
Same sound today

The form 裡 pairs 衤 (clothes) with 里 as a sound component.

Open 里 →

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