白兰地 (bái lán dì) — brandy | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

brandy

Measure word · 杯

Examples

白兰地。
Tā xǐ huan zài fàn hòu hē yì bēi bái lán dì.
He likes to have a glass of brandy after dinner.
白兰地，。
Zhè píng bái lán dì shì fǎ guó jìn kǒu de, wèi dào hěn chún hòu.
This bottle of brandy is imported from France and has a rich flavor.
白兰地。
bái lán dì De jià gé yīn nián fèn hé chǎn dì bù tóng ér chā yì hěn dà.
The price of brandy varies greatly depending on the vintage and origin.

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.

The characters carry no meaning here; 白兰地 transliterates brandy.

Sound-only characters

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

白 is thought to picture either an acorn or a human head.

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.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

土也地

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔearth

Sound part声符shēngfú

也

也yě地dì

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

地 is built from 土 (earth) and 也, which gives its sound.

Appears in

Alcohol & Tobacco

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