伯尔尼 (bó ěr ní) — Bern (capital of Switzerland)

Definition

noun
Bern (capital of Switzerland)

Examples

  • 伯尔尼。
    bó ěr ní Shì ruì shì de shǒu dū.
    Bern is the capital of Switzerland.
  • 伯尔尼。
    Wǒ cóng bó ěr ní gěi nǐ jì le yì zhāng míng xìn piàn.
    I sent you a postcard from Bern.
  • 伯尔尼，。
    bó ěr ní Zhè zuò chéng shì hěn ān jìng, wǒ xǐ huan.
    The city of Bern is very quiet; I like it.

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.

伯bó
尔ěr
尼ní

The characters 伯尔尼 spell the foreign place name and carry no meaning of their own.

Sound-only characters

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
人人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
白
白bái伯bó
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

伯 pairs 人 (person) with 白, which gives its sound.

Open 伯 →

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.

The shape draws one person sitting on or leaning against another person, giving the sense of stopping close to someone.

Open 尼 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.