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异地 (yì de) — a place away from one's hometown; a different place (often implying being away from home)

Definition

Literally 'a different place' — used for somewhere away from one's hometown. Most often collocates with 恋 (long-distance relationship) or with living/working away from home.

noun
a place away from one's hometowna different place (often implying being away from home)

Examples

  • 异地，。
    Tā yīn wèi gōng zuò qù le yì de, yì nián zhǐ néng huí jiā liǎng cì.
    He went to a different city for work and can only go home twice a year.
  • 异地，。
    yì de Liàn hěn bù róng yì, xū yào liǎng gè rén hù xiāng lǐ jiě.
    Long-distance relationships are not easy; two people need to understand each other.
  • 异地，。
    Zài yì de shēng huó jiǔ le, jiù huì kāi shǐ xiǎng niàn jiā xiāng de wèi dào.
    After living away from home for a long time, you start to miss the taste of your hometown.

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.

异yìdifferent
地dìplace

异 marks the 地 (place) as away from home.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 異; 异 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 異 depicts a person with a mask 田 over the face, so the face looks different. The simplified 异 is a later shorthand.

Open 异 →

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
也
也yě地dì
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

地 is built from 土 (earth) and 也, which gives its sound.

Open 地 →
Appears in
Travel & Tourism

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