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阿德莱德 (A dé lái dé) — Adelaide (capital of South Australia)

Definition

noun
Adelaide (capital of South Australia)

Examples

  • 阿德莱德。
    Wǒ jì huà míng nián qù A dé lái dé lǚ yóu.
    I plan to travel to Adelaide next year.
  • 阿德莱德。
    A dé lái dé Shì ào dà lì yà yǒu míng de wén huà chéng shì.
    Adelaide is a famous cultural city in Australia.
  • 阿德莱德。
    Tā zài A dé lái dé dà xué xué xí shēng wù xué.
    She studies biology at the University of Adelaide.

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.

阿ā
德dé
莱lái
德dé

阿德莱德 only spells the foreign name Adelaide; the characters carry no meaning on their own.

Sound-only characters

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
阜阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
可
可kě阿ā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The part 阜 points to a mound, and 可 gives the pronunciation; 阿 originally meant a big mound.

Open 阿 →

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
彳彳chìroad
Sound part声符shēngfú
惪
惪dé德dé
Same sound today

德 combines 彳, a road, with 惪, a component meaning virtue that also supplies the sound.

Open 德 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 莱 →

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
彳彳chìroad
Sound part声符shēngfú
惪
惪dé德dé
Same sound today

德 combines 彳, a road, with 惪, a component meaning virtue that also supplies the sound.

Open 德 →
Appears in
City & Urban

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