特灵 (tè líng) — Trane (brand name for HVAC and building managem…

Definition

noun

Trane (brand name for HVAC and building management products)

特灵，。
Wǒ jiā de kōng tiáo shì tè líng de, yòng le shí nián dōu méi huài.
My home's air conditioner is Trane; it hasn't broken down in ten years.
特灵。
tè líng Shēng chǎn de lěng qì jī fēi cháng yǒu míng.
The chillers produced by Trane are very famous.
特灵。
Tā men gōng sī ān zhuāng le tè líng de zhōng yāng kōng tiáo xì tǒng.
Their company installed a Trane central air conditioning system.

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 特 and 灵 spell the foreign brand name and carry no meaning of their own 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.

牛寺特

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

寺

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

The shape combines 牛 (ox) with 寺, which gives the pronunciation; it originally meant a large bull.

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 靈; 灵 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

玉玉yùjade

Sound part声符shēngfú

霝

霝líng靈líng

Same sound today

This note describes the traditional form 靈, not the simplified 灵: 霝 gives the sound, and 玉 (jade) is the meaning part.