亚拉巴马 (Yà lā bā mǎ) — Alabama (a U.S. state)

Definition

noun

Alabama (a U.S. state)

。
Wǒ zhù zài Yà lā bā mǎ zhōu.
I live in the state of Alabama.
亚拉巴马。
Yà lā bā mǎ De shǒu fǔ shì méng gē mǎ lì.
The capital of Alabama is Montgomery.
亚拉巴马。
Tā qù nián qù Yà lā bā mǎ lǚ yóu le.
He traveled to Alabama last year.

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.

The characters 亚拉巴马 spell the foreign name Alabama and carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

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.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

立

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

拉 pairs 手 (hand) with 立, a component that supplies the sound.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 馬; 马 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 馬 shows a horse with its head facing left, a flowing mane, and two legs standing vertically.