居里 (jū lǐ) — (proper noun) Curie (surname of Pierre and Marie Curie); (noun) curie (unit of radioactivity)

Definition

Transliterated surname of Pierre and Marie Curie, used alone as a proper noun for the scientists or their family (e.g. 居里夫妇). Also the unit 'curie' of radioactivity.

noun
(proper noun) Curie (surname of Pierre and Marie Curie)curie (unit of radioactivity)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 居里。
    jū lǐ Shì yí wèi zhù míng de kē xué jiā.
    Curie is a famous scientist.
  • 居里。
    Zhè ge fàng shè xìng wù zhì de qiáng dù shì shí jū lǐ.
    The strength of this radioactive substance is ten curies.
  • 居里。
    jū lǐ Fū fù de yán jiū duì wù lǐ xué yǒu hěn dà de yǐng xiǎng.
    The Curies' research had a great influence on physics.

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.

居jū
里lǐ

The characters 居 and 里 only spell the foreign name Curie; they 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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
尸尸shī
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ居jū
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

居 is built from 尸 as the meaning part and 古 (gǔ) as the sound part.

Open 居 →

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 裡; 里 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 里 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (里, 里面) it is 裡; in others (公里) it is 里 or 裏.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
衤Written in full as衣yīclothes
Sound part声符shēngfú
里
里lǐ裡lǐ
Same sound today

The form 裡 pairs 衤 (clothes) with 里 as a sound component.

Open 里 →

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