亚利桑那州 (Yà lì sāng nà zhōu) — Arizona (U.S. state)

Definition

noun

Arizona (U.S. state)

亚利桑那州。
Wǒ qù nián xià tiān qù le Yà lì sāng nà zhōu lǚ yóu.
I traveled to Arizona last summer.
亚利桑那州。
Yà lì sāng nà zhōu De dà xiá gǔ fēi cháng zhuàng guān.
The Grand Canyon in Arizona is very spectacular.
亚利桑那州。
Tā zhù zài Yà lì sāng nà zhōu de shǒu fǔ fèng huáng chéng.
He lives in Phoenix, the capital of Arizona.

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.

亚利桑那Arizona

亚利桑那 spells Arizona, and 州 gives the sense of a U.S. state.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 亞; 亚 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 亞 likely shows an overhead view of a construction, perhaps a 亞-shaped tomb. Its later simplified form 亚 is just a shorthand.

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

利 combines 禾 (grain) and 刀 (knife), showing a knife used to cut grain.

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

桑 is a picture of a mulberry tree, with its upper part drawn as the tree's foliage.

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

邑邑yìcity

Sound part声符shēngfú

冄

冉rǎn那nà

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The right part 邑 shows a city, and the left part 冄 (written 冉) gives the sound. The character first named a state and was later used to mean 'that'.

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

州 originally drew an islet in a river.