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阿波罗 (A bō luó) — Apollo (Greek/Roman god of the sun, music, and prophecy)

Definition

noun
Apollo (Greek/Roman god of the sun, music, and prophecy)

Examples

  • 阿波罗。
    A bō luó Shì xī là shén huà zhōng de tài yáng shén.
    Apollo is the sun god in Greek mythology.
  • 阿波罗。
    Měi guó yǔ háng jú de A bō luó jì huà shǒu cì shí xiàn le rén lèi dēng yuè.
    NASA's Apollo program achieved the first human moon landing.
  • 阿波罗。
    Tā gěi hái zi qǔ míng jiào A bō luó.
    He named his child Apollo.

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
波bō
罗luó

The characters 阿, 波, and 罗 only spell the foreign name Apollo 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.

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
皮
皮pí波bō
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 氵 is water, and the right side 皮 gives the sound.

Open 波 →

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 →
Appears in
Mythology & Folklore

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