柯达 (kē dá) — Kodak (brand of photographic film and cameras)

Definition

noun
Kodak (brand of photographic film and cameras)

Examples

  • 柯达
    Wǒ xiǎo shí hou jiā lǐ yòng de jiù shì kē dá jiāo juǎn.
    When I was a child, my family used Kodak film.
  • 柯达
    kē dá Céng jīng shì shì jiè shàng zuì zhù míng de xiàng jī gōng sī zhī yī.
    Kodak was once one of the most famous camera companies in the world.
  • 柯达
    Suí zhe shù mǎ xiàng jī de pǔ jí, kē dá zhú jiàn tuì chū le shì chǎng.
    With the popularity of digital cameras, Kodak gradually withdrew from the market.

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.

柯 and 达 only spell the borrowed name Kodak; neither character contributes its own meaning 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
tree
Sound part声符shēngfú
Same sound today

柯 is built from 木 (tree) plus 可, a part that gives the character its sound.

Open 柯 →

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
Written in full aschuò
Sound part声符shēngfú
Same sound today

This form 达 pairs 辶 (written in full as 辵) with 大 as a sound component.

Open 达 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.