塞拉利昂 (Sài lā lì áng) — Sierra Leone

Definition

noun
Sierra Leone

Examples

  • 塞拉利昂。
    Sài lā lì áng Shì fēi zhōu de yí gè guó jiā.
    Sierra Leone is a country in Africa.
  • 塞拉利昂，。
    Sài lā lì áng De shǒu dū shì fú lǐ dūn, wèi yú fēi zhōu xī bù.
    The capital of Sierra Leone is Freetown, located in West Africa.
  • 塞拉利昂。
    Hěn duō rén bù zhī dào Sài lā lì áng zài nǎ lǐ.
    Many people don't know where Sierra Leone is.

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.

塞sāi
拉lā
利lì
昂áng

塞拉利昂 spells Sierra Leone; its characters carry no meaning of their own.

Sound-only characters

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

  • 宀宀miánhouse
  • 工工gōngtwo items
  • 廾廾gǒngtwo hands

塞 combines 宀 (house), 工 (two items), and 廾 (two hands), showing hands stuffing items into a house.

Open 塞 →

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
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
立
立lì拉lā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

拉 pairs 手 (hand) with 立, a component that supplies the sound.

Open 拉 →

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

利 combines 禾 (grain) and 刀 (knife), showing a knife used to cut grain.

Open 利 →

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
日日rìsun
Sound part声符shēngfú
卬
卬áng昂áng
Same sound today

昂 pairs 日 (sun) with 卬, a drawing of a standing man and a kneeling man that gives the sound.

Open 昂 →

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