多瑙河 (Duō nǎo hé) — the Danube (river) | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

the Danube (river)

Examples

多瑙河。
Duō nǎo hé Shì ōu zhōu de dì èr cháng hé.
The Danube is the second longest river in Europe.
多瑙河。
Duō nǎo hé Liú jīng duō gè guó jiā.
The Danube flows through many countries.
多瑙河。
Wǒ zuò chuán yóu lǎn le měi lì de Duō nǎo hé.
I took a boat tour of the beautiful Danube.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

多瑙Danube

多瑙 gives the foreign name and 河 means river, so the term names the Danube.

Characters in this word

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

多 originally showed two pieces of meat placed together; the repeated meat shape gives the sense of many.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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

水水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

何

何hé河hé

Same sound today

河 pairs 水 (water) with 何, which gives the sound. The 水 part marks it as a word for a river.

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