可卡因 (kě kǎ yīn) — cocaine | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

cocaine

可卡因。
Jǐng chá zài chē lǐ fā xiàn le kě kǎ yīn.
The police found cocaine in the car.
可卡因。
kě kǎ yīn Shì yì zhǒng fēi cháng wēi xiǎn de dú pǐn.
Cocaine is a very dangerous drug.
可卡因。
Tā yīn wèi fàn mài kě kǎ yīn bèi pàn le shí nián.
He was sentenced to ten years for trafficking cocaine.

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.

可卡因 spells the foreign word cocaine; the characters carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

丂

丂kǎo可kě

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

可 pairs 口 (mouth) with 丂 as a sound part; it is tied to air from the mouth, perhaps singing.

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.

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

囗大因

Originally, 因 showed 大 (a person) on 囗 (a sheet or mattress).

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