汉城 (Hàn chéng) — Seoul (former Chinese name; now usually 首尔)

Definition

The former Chinese name for Seoul, used before South Korea officially adopted the Chinese rendering 首尔 in 2005. The two are interchangeable when referring to the same city, but 汉城 is now dated.

noun
Seoul (former Chinese name; now usually 首尔)

Examples

  • 汉城
    Hàn chéng Shì hán guó de yí zuò lì shǐ míng chéng, xiàn zài gǎi míng wéi shǒu ěr.
    Seoul is a historically famous city in South Korea; it is now renamed to Seoul.
  • 2002汉城
    2002 Nián shì jiè bēi zú qiú sài shì zài Hàn chéng hé rì běn jǐ gè chéng shì jǔ xíng de.
    The 2002 World Cup was held in Seoul and several cities in Japan.
  • 汉城
    Xǔ duō lǎo zhào piàn jì lù le shàng shì jì bā shí nián dài Hàn chéng de fēng mào.
    Many old photos capture the look and feel of Seoul in the 1980s.

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.

汉城 combines 汉 (Han) and 城 (city), giving the old name meaning Han city.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 汉 →

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
soil
Sound part声符shēngfú
chéngchéng
Same sound today

城 pairs 土 (soil) with 成 as a sound part, because city walls were originally made of stamped earth.

Open 城 →
Appears in

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