巴勒斯坦 (Bā lè sī tǎn) — Palestine

Definition

noun
Palestine

Examples

  • 巴勒斯坦。
    Bā lè sī tǎn Shì yí gè wèi yú zhōng dōng de guó jiā.
    Palestine is a country located in the Middle East.
  • 巴勒斯坦。
    Tā zuì jìn zài yán jiū Bā lè sī tǎn de lì shǐ.
    He is recently researching the history of Palestine.
  • 巴勒斯坦。
    Bā lè sī tǎn De wén huà fēi cháng fēng fù.
    Palestine's culture is very rich.

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.

巴bā
勒lè
斯sī
坦tǎn

The characters 巴 勒 斯 坦 carry no meaning of their own here; the word spells Palestine.

Sound-only characters

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 巴 →

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
革革gé
Sound part声符shēngfú
力
力lì勒lè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

勒 pairs 革 (leather), because bridles are made of leather, with 力, which gives the sound.

Open 勒 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 斯 →

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
土土tǔearth
Sound part声符shēngfú
旦
旦dàn坦tǎn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

坦 is made from 土 (earth) plus 旦, which provides the sound. The earth part shows the sense is about ground.

Open 坦 →

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