布雷斯劳 (bù léi sī láo) — Breslau (historical German name of the city now called Wrocław in Poland)

Definition

noun
Breslau (historical German name of the city now called Wrocław in Poland)

Examples

  • 布雷斯劳。
    bù léi sī láo Shì bō lán de yí zuò lì shǐ míng chéng.
    Breslau is a historic city in Poland.
  • ，布雷斯劳。
    Èr zhàn qián, bù léi sī láo shì dé guó de zhòng yào chéng shì.
    Before World War II, Breslau was an important German city.
  • 布雷斯劳。
    Tā xiě le yì běn guān yú bù léi sī láo lì shǐ de shū.
    He wrote a book about the history of Breslau.

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.

布bù
雷léi
斯sī
劳láo

The characters 布雷斯劳 spell the historical German city name Breslau and carry no meanings 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
巾巾jīnkerchief
Sound part声符shēngfú
父
父fù布bù
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

布 pairs 巾, a kerchief, with 父 as a sound part.

Open 布 →

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
雨雨yǔrain
Sound part声符shēngfú
畾
畾léi雷léi
Same sound today

The top 雨 (rain) points to the meaning, and the bottom 畾 gives the sound.

Open 雷 →

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 勞; 劳 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
力力lì
Sound part声符shēngfú
𬡤
𬡤𬡤勞láo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 勞 uses 力 for the meaning and 𬡤 for the sound; the simplified 劳 is a later shortened shape.

Open 劳 →

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