伊利湖 (yī lì hú) — Lake Erie (one of the Great Lakes of North Amer… | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

Lake Erie (one of the Great Lakes of North America)

Examples

伊利湖。
Qù nián xià tiān wǒ men qù le yī lì hú wán.
Last summer we went to Lake Erie for fun.
伊利湖。
yī lì hú Shì běi měi wǔ dà hú zhī yī.
Lake Erie is one of the five Great Lakes of North America.
伊利湖。
Cóng wǒ jiā kāi chē dào yī lì hú zhǐ yào sān gè xiǎo shí.
It only takes three hours to drive from my home to Lake Erie.

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.

伊利Erie

伊利 spells Erie, while 湖 means lake.

Characters in this word

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

亻尹伊

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

尹

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

The left part 亻 shows a person. The right part 尹 is used for the sound.

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

禾禾hégrain
刀刀dāoknife

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

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

水水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

胡

胡hú湖hú

Same sound today

湖 pairs 水 (water) with 胡 (hú), which gives the sound.

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