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卢森堡 (Lú sēn bǎo) — Luxembourg (country)

Definition

noun
Luxembourg (country)

Examples

  • 卢森堡。
    Qù nián wǒ qù Lú sēn bǎo lǚ xíng le yí gè xīng qī.
    I traveled to Luxembourg for a week last year.
  • 卢森堡。
    Lú sēn bǎo De shǒu dū shì lú sēn bǎo shì.
    The capital of Luxembourg is Luxembourg City.
  • 卢森堡。
    Tā yǒu jǐ gè kè hù zài Lú sēn bǎo.
    He has several clients in Luxembourg.

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.

卢lú
森sēn
堡bǎo

The characters carry no meaning of their own here; they spell the foreign name Luxembourg.

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.

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.

Open 卢 →

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

The form 森 stacks three tree-like shapes to show many trees in a forest.

Open 森 →

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
土土tǔ
Sound part声符shēngfú
保
保bǎo堡bǔ
Same sound today

堡 pairs 土 (earth) with 保 (bǎo): 保 gives the sound, and 土 is the meaning part.

Open 堡 →
Appears in
Geography & Landforms

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