俄罗斯人 (E luó sī rén) — Russian (person)

Definition

noun

Russian (person)

Measure word · 个

俄罗斯人，。
Wǒ rèn shi yí gè E luó sī rén, tā jiào yī wàn.
I know a Russian person; his name is Ivan.
俄罗斯人。
Zhè xiē E luó sī rén dōu hěn xǐ huan hē chá.
These Russian people all really like drinking tea.
俄罗斯人。
Zuó tiān wǒ zài gōng yuán lǐ yù dào le jǐ gè E luó sī rén.
Yesterday I met a few Russian people in the park.

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.

俄罗斯Russia

“俄罗斯” spells Russia, and “人” means person; together they denote a person from Russia.

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.

亻我俄

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

我

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

俄 pairs 亻 (person) with 我, which gives the sound.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 羅; 罗 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 羅 combines 网 (net) with 維 (a bird tied with string) to show a net for catching birds; the simplified 罗 is a later abbreviation.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.