九龙 (Jiǔ lóng) — Kowloon (urban area in Hong Kong)

Definition

noun
Kowloon (urban area in Hong Kong)

Examples

  • 九龙。
    Jiǔ lóng Shì xiāng gǎng yí gè fēi cháng fán huá de dì qū.
    Kowloon is a very bustling area in Hong Kong.
  • 九龙。
    Cóng Jiǔ lóng zuò dì tiě dào xiāng gǎng dǎo hěn fāng biàn.
    It's very convenient to take the subway from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island.
  • 九龙。
    Jiǔ lóng De yè shì xī yǐn le lái zì shì jiè gè dì de yóu kè.
    Kowloon's night markets attract tourists from all over the world.

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.

九jiǔnine
龙lóngdragon

九龙 names Kowloon, from 九 and 龙, evoking nine dragons.

Characters in this word

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

The shape comes from a stylized hand bent at the wrist, with the lower-right hook showing the bend. Later, it was taken to show a tightened fist bumping up to ten, giving the number nine.

Open 九 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 龍; 龙 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 龍 originally drew a sacred creature with a large mouth and a snake-like body; the simplified 龙 is the form written here.

Open 龙 →

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