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普林斯顿 (Pǔ lín sī dūn) — Princeton (city in New Jersey, USA; also refers to Princeton University)

Definition

noun
Princeton (city in New Jersey, USA; also refers to Princeton University)

Examples

  • 普林斯顿。
    Tā zài Pǔ lín sī dūn dà xué dú shū.
    He studies at Princeton University.
  • 普林斯顿。
    Pǔ lín sī dūn Shì měi guó dōng bù de yí gè chéng shì.
    Princeton is a city in the eastern United States.
  • 普林斯顿。
    Wǒ qù nián qù Pǔ lín sī dūn lǚ yóu le.
    I traveled to Princeton last year.

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.

普pǔ
林lín
斯sī
顿dùn

普林斯顿 spells a foreign place name; its characters carry no meaning of their own in this word.

Sound-only characters

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

  • 並並bìngside by side
  • 日日rìsun

普 is made of 日 (sun) and 並 (side by side).

Open 普 →

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

林 is made of two 木 (tree) placed side by side, showing many trees together, hence a forest.

Open 林 →

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 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
School & Education

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