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麦当劳 (Mài dāng láo) — McDonald's (fast-food restaurant chain)

Definition

noun
McDonald's (fast-food restaurant chain)
Measure word · 家

Examples

  • 麦当劳。
    Jīn tiān wǎn shàng wǒ men qù Mài dāng láo chī fàn ba.
    Let's go eat at McDonald's tonight.
  • 麦当劳。
    Mài dāng láo De shǔ tiáo hé bīng qí lín dōu hěn hǎo chī.
    McDonald's french fries and ice cream are both delicious.
  • 麦当劳，。
    Wǒ jiā páng biān jiù yǒu yì jiā Mài dāng láo, zǒu lù wǔ fēn zhōng jiù dào le.
    There's a McDonald's right next to my house; it's a five-minute walk.

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.

麦mài
当dāng
劳láo

The characters together spell the foreign brand name McDonald's; they 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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 麥; 麦 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
夊夊suīfootprint pointing down; to walk slowly
Sound part声符shēngfú
來
來lái麥mài
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For 麦, the traditional form 麥 pairs 來, which gives the sound and once meant wheat, with 夊, a footprint pointing down for slow walking.

Open 麦 →

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 當; 当 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
田田tiánfield
Sound part声符shēngfú
尚
尚shàng當dāng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 當 combines 田 (field) with 尚; the evidence describes fields facing each other.

Open 当 →

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 勞; 劳 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
力力lì
Sound part声符shēngfú
𬡤
𬡤𬡤勞láo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 勞 uses 力 for the meaning and 𬡤 for the sound; the simplified 劳 is a later shortened shape.

Open 劳 →
Appears in
Dining & Restaurants

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