图瓦卢 (Tú wǎ lú) — Tuvalu | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

Tuvalu

图瓦卢。
Tú wǎ lú Shì yí gè tài píng yáng dǎo guó.
Tuvalu is a Pacific island nation.
图瓦卢。
Tú wǎ lú De rén kǒu fēi cháng shǎo.
Tuvalu's population is very small.
图瓦卢。
Wǒ yǐ hòu xiǎng qù Tú wǎ lú lǚ xíng.
I want to travel to Tuvalu in the future.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 圖; 图 is its simplified writing.

囗啚圖

The traditional form 圖 pairs 囗, a walled city, with 啚, an early form meaning remote areas or territory. The simplified 图 is a later abbreviation.

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

瓦’s shape is a picture of fired earthenware pottery or a tile.

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.