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希尔顿 (Xī ěr dùn) — Hilton (hotel chain)

Definition

noun
Hilton (hotel chain)

Examples

  • 希尔顿。
    Wǒ men zhè cì chū chāi zhù de shì Xī ěr dùn jiǔ diàn.
    We stayed at the Hilton hotel for this business trip.
  • 希尔顿。
    Xī ěr dùn Zài quán qiú hěn duō chéng shì dōu yǒu fēn diàn.
    Hilton has branches in many cities around the world.
  • 希尔顿。
    Zhè jiā Xī ěr dùn de fú wù fēi cháng zhōu dào.
    The service at this Hilton is very thorough.

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.

希xī
尔ěr
顿dùn

希尔顿 spells the foreign name Hilton; its characters are used only for sound.

Sound-only characters

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

希 is made from 爻 and 巾, which means cloth. How those parts connect to “hope” is not explained.

Open 希 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 爾; 尔 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 爾, simplified as 尔, originally drew cloth on a loom with crossing threads. It was borrowed for its sound to write “you,” so the picture is unrelated to that meaning.

Open 尔 →

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 頓; 顿 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yè
Sound part声符shēngfú
屯
屯tún頓dùn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 頓 combines 屯, drawn as a kneeling person's head, with 頁, and expresses a bow or kowtow. The simplified 顿 replaces 頁 with 页.

Open 顿 →
Appears in
Accommodation

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