厦门 (Xià mén) — Xiamen (city in Fujian, China)

Definition

noun
Xiamen (city in Fujian, China)

Examples

  • 厦门。
    Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù Xià mén lǚ yóu.
    I want to travel to Xiamen next year.
  • 厦门。
    Xià mén De qì hòu fēi cháng shū fu.
    Xiamen's climate is very comfortable.
  • 厦门。
    Wǒ qù nián zài Xià mén zhù le yí gè yuè.
    I lived in Xiamen for a month last year.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

厦shà
门mén

The characters in 厦门 carry no meaning of their own here; together they name the city of Xiamen.

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 廈; 厦 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
广广guǎng
Sound part声符shēngfú
夏
夏xià廈shà
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional 廈 pairs 广, which contributes the building sense, with 夏, which gives the sound and also means 'great'; the simplified 厦 is a later shorthand.

Open 厦 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 門; 门 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 門 pictures a gate as two door shapes side by side; the simplified 门 is a later shorthand.

Open 门 →

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