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咖啡因 (kā fēi yīn) — caffeine

Definition

noun
caffeine

Examples

  • 咖啡因。
    Kā fēi lǐ hán yǒu dà liàng de kā fēi yīn.
    Coffee contains a large amount of caffeine.
  • 咖啡因。
    Wǎn shàng hē tài duō kā fēi yīn huì yǐng xiǎng shuì mián.
    Drinking too much caffeine at night can affect sleep.
  • 咖啡因。
    Tā jué dìng jiǎn shǎo kā fēi yīn de shè rù liàng.
    She decided to reduce her caffeine intake.

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.

咖kā
啡fēi
因yīn

The characters only spell the loan word; 咖, 啡 and 因 carry no meaning 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
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
加
加jiā咖gā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left part is 口, showing a mouth, and the right part is 加, which gives the sound jiā.

Open 咖 →

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
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
非
非fēi啡
Same sound today

啡 combines 口 (mouth) with 非, which supplies the sound.

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

  • 囗囗wéisheet
  • 大大dàperson

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

Open 因 →
Appears in
Materials & Substances

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