波兰 (Bō lán) — Poland | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

Poland

Easily confused

波兰。
Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù Bō lán lǚ xíng.
I want to travel to Poland next year.
波兰。
Bō lán De shǒu dū shì huá shā.
The capital of Poland is Warsaw.
波兰，。
Tā lái zì Bō lán, shì yí wèi lì shǐ xué jiā.
He comes from Poland and is a historian.

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.

The characters spell Poland; they carry no separate meanings 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.

氵皮波

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

皮

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

The left side 氵 is water, and the right side 皮 gives the sound.

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 蘭; 兰 is its simplified writing.

艹闌蘭

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎoplant

Sound part声符shēngfú

闌

闌lán蘭lán

Same sound today

In the traditional form 蘭, 艹 marks it as a plant and 闌 stands for the sound; the simplified 兰 is a later shorthand, not the original parts.