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牛顿 (Niú dùn) — Newton (Isaac Newton, physicist); newton (unit of force)

Definition

A proper name referring to Sir Isaac Newton the physicist, or to the newton, the SI unit of force named after him. The sense in context is almost always determined by the surrounding words (e.g. 科学家 = the person, 力的单位 = the unit).

noun
Newton (Isaac Newton, physicist)newton (unit of force)

Examples

  • 牛顿。
    Niú dùn Shì yí wèi wěi dà de kē xué jiā.
    Newton was a great scientist.
  • 牛顿。
    Lì de dān wèi shì Niú dùn.
    The unit of force is the newton.
  • 牛顿。
    Niú dùn Fā xiàn le wàn yǒu yǐn lì dìng lǜ.
    Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation.

Origin

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

牛 is drawn as a bull's head, with two horns and two ears.

Open 牛 →

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
Physics & Chemistry

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