伏尔加 (fú ěr jiā) — Volga (river)

Definition

noun
Volga (river)

Examples

  • 伏尔加。
    fú ěr jiā Hé shì ōu zhōu zuì cháng de hé liú.
    The Volga River is the longest river in Europe.
  • 伏尔加。
    Tā yán zhe fú ěr jiā hé lǚ xíng le yí gè yuè.
    He traveled along the Volga River for a month.
  • 伏尔加。
    fú ěr jiā Hé duì é luó sī de lì shǐ yǒu zhòng yào yǐng xiǎng.
    The Volga River has had a significant impact on Russian history.

Origin

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.

伏fú
尔ěr
加jiā

The characters carry no meaning of their own here; they spell Volga.

Sound-only characters

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

伏 combines 人 (person) and 犬 (dog), as a dog beside a person or a person taking a dog's low posture, to show lying prostrate.

Open 伏 →

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 爾; 尔 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 爾, simplified as 尔, originally drew cloth on a loom with crossing threads. It was borrowed for its sound to write “you,” so the picture is unrelated to that meaning.

Open 尔 →

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

加 pairs 力 and 口. In one explanation 力 is strength and 口 is the mouth, meaning exaggeration; in another 力 is plowing effort and 口 is breath or exclamation, meaning extra effort.

Open 加 →

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