五角大楼 (wǔ jiǎo dà lóu) — the Pentagon (headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense in Washington, D.C.)

Definition

noun
the Pentagon (headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense in Washington, D.C.)
Measure word · 座

Examples

  • 五角大楼。
    wǔ jiǎo dà lóu Wèi yú měi guó huá shèng dùn.
    The Pentagon is located in Washington, D.C., USA.
  • 五角大楼。
    Jīn tiān bào zhǐ shàng yǒu yì piān guān yú wǔ jiǎo dà lóu de wén zhāng.
    There is an article about the Pentagon in today's newspaper.
  • 五角大楼。
    wǔ jiǎo dà lóu Shì měi guó guó fáng bù bàn gōng de dì fāng.
    The Pentagon is where the U.S. Department of Defense works.

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.

五角five corners
五wǔfive角jiǎocorner
偏正Modifier + head
大楼big building
大dàbig楼lóubuilding
偏正Modifier + head

五角 means five corners, and 大楼 means big building, together the Pentagon.

Characters in this word

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

An older form had a crossed mark between a top bar and a bottom bar. The modern 五 keeps those bars, while the original idea is uncertain.

Open 五 →

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

The form 角 is a picture of a horn.

Open 角 →

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

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 樓; 楼 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
木木mùtree
Sound part声符shēngfú
婁
婁lóu樓lóu
Same sound today

The traditional form 樓 pairs 木 (tree) with 婁 as its sound part; the simplified 楼 is a later shorthand.

Open 楼 →
Appears in
Buildings & StructuresMilitary & Defense

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