曼哈顿 (Màn hā dùn) — Manhattan (island and borough of New York City)

Definition

noun

Manhattan (island and borough of New York City)

曼哈顿。
Màn hā dùn Shì niǔ yuē shì zuì fán huá de qū zhī yī.
Manhattan is one of the busiest districts in New York City.
曼哈顿，。
Wǒ zhù zài Màn hā dùn, měi tiān dōu néng kàn dào hěn duō gāo lóu.
I live in Manhattan and see many tall buildings every day.
曼哈顿。
Yóu kè cháng qù Màn hā dùn de shí dài guǎng chǎng cān guān.
Tourists often visit Times Square in Manhattan.

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.

曼哈顿 spells the foreign place name Manhattan; the characters carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

口合哈

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

合

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

哈 uses 口 (mouth) to show a mouth-related idea, and 合 as a sound part. The shape of 合 may look like two open mouths, but that is likely by chance.

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.

屯頁頓

Meaning part形符xíngfú

頁頁yè

Sound part声符shēngfú

屯

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.

Appears in