卢布 (lú bù) — ruble | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

ruble

卢布？
Yì lú bù néng huàn duō shǎo rén mín bì?
How many RMB can one ruble be exchanged for?
卢布。
Zhè ge miàn bāo huā le wǔ shí lú bù.
This bread cost fifty rubles.
卢布。
Tā de jī xù lǐ yǒu shí wàn lú bù.
He has 100,000 rubles in savings.

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.

The characters 卢布 carry no meaning of their own here; together they spell the foreign name for the ruble.

Sound-only characters

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 盧; 卢 is its simplified writing.

虍田皿盧

Meaning part形符xíngfú

田田tiánpictogram of an oven

皿皿mǐnvessel

Sound part声符shēngfú

虍

虍hū盧lú

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 盧 began as a picture of an oven, later written 田, with 皿 (a vessel) and 虍 (for sound) added; simplified 卢 is a shorthand.

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

巾巾jīnkerchief

Sound part声符shēngfú

父

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

布 pairs 巾, a kerchief, with 父 as a sound part.

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