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罗马帝国 (Luó mǎ Dì guó) — Roman Empire

Definition

noun
Roman Empire

Examples

  • 罗马帝国。
    Wǒ zuì jìn kàn le guān yú Luó mǎ Dì guó de shū.
    I recently read a book about the Roman Empire.
  • 罗马帝国。
    Luó mǎ Dì guó Céng jīng héng kuà ōu yà fēi sān dà zhōu.
    The Roman Empire once spanned Europe, Asia, and Africa.
  • 罗马帝国。
    Wǒ men kè táng shàng tǎo lùn le Luó mǎ Dì guó de zhèng zhì zhì dù.
    In class, we discussed the political system of the Roman Empire.

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.

罗马Rome
罗luó马mǎ
帝国empire
帝dìemperor国guóstate
偏正Modifier + head

罗马 names Rome, and 帝国 means empire, together forming the Roman Empire.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 羅; 罗 is its simplified writing.

  • 网网wǎngnet
  • 維維wéibird (tied with string)

The traditional form 羅 combines 网 (net) with 維 (a bird tied with string) to show a net for catching birds; the simplified 罗 is a later abbreviation.

Open 罗 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 馬; 马 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 馬 shows a horse with its head facing left, a flowing mane, and two legs standing vertically.

Open 马 →

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
丄丄shàngup; above
Sound part声符shēngfú
朿
朿cì帝dì
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

帝 originally drew a flower calyx, the part joining blossom to stem. The 丄 and 朿 breakdown is mistaken.

Open 帝 →

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 國; 国 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
囗囗wéiclosure
Sound part声符shēngfú
或
或huò國guó
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 國 uses 囗 to show closure and 或 to give the sound.

Open 国 →
Appears in
History

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