墨西拿 (Mò xī ná) — Messina (city in Sicily, Italy)

Definition

noun

Messina (city in Sicily, Italy)

墨西拿。
Mò xī ná Shì yì dà lì xī xī lǐ dǎo shàng de yí gè chéng shì.
Messina is a city on the Italian island of Sicily.
墨西拿。
Qù nián xià tiān wǒ qù le Mò xī ná lǚ yóu.
Last summer I traveled to Messina.
墨西拿。
Mò xī ná Yǐ tā de gǎng kǒu hé měi lì de hǎi àn wén míng.
Messina is famous for its port and beautiful coastline.

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.

The characters spell the foreign name Messina and 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.

黑土墨

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔsoil

Sound part声符shēngfú

黑

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

墨 is built from 土 (soil) and 黑, with 黑 giving the sound.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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

合手拿

The shape 拿 pairs 合 with 手, and it is a later alternative form for taking with the hand.