麻省 (má shěng) — Massachusetts (US state); abbreviation for MIT (麻省理工学院)

Definition

Short for Massachusetts (the US state) and commonly used as a prefix for MIT (麻省理工学院, "Massachusetts Institute of Technology").

noun
Massachusetts (US state)abbreviation for MIT (麻省理工学院)

Examples

  • 麻省，。
    Tā lái zì má shěng, shì měi guó dōng hǎi àn de yí gè zhōu.
    He comes from Massachusetts, a state on the East Coast of the US.
  • 麻省。
    má shěng Lǐ gōng xué yuàn shì shì jiè dǐng jiān de kē jì yuàn xiào zhī yī.
    MIT is one of the world's top science and technology institutions.
  • 麻省？。
    Nǐ tīng shuō guò má shěng de fēng yè ma? qiū tiān hěn měi.
    Have you heard about the maple leaves in Massachusetts? They're beautiful in autumn.

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.

麻máMassachusetts
省shěngstate

麻 stands for Massachusetts, and 省 marks it as a state.

Characters in this word

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

麻 combines 厂 and 𣏟 to represent hemp leaves.

Open 麻 →

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

The upper part of 省 is a changed form of 生, which gave the sound, while the lower 目 is an eye; the picture showed looking closely or inspecting.

Open 省 →

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