加利福尼亚 (Jiā lì fú ní yà) — California

Definition

noun
California

Examples

  • 加利福尼亚。
    Jiā lì fú ní yà Yǐ qí duō yàng huà de wén huà hé gāo kē jì chǎn yè wén míng yú shì.
    California is famous worldwide for its diverse culture and high-tech industry.
  • 加利福尼亚，。
    Wǒ jì huà míng nián qù Jiā lì fú ní yà lǚ xíng, cān guān guī gǔ hé hǎo lái wù.
    I plan to travel to California next year, visiting Silicon Valley and Hollywood.
  • 加利福尼亚。
    Jiā lì fú ní yà De jīng jì fā zhǎn duì měi guó zhěng tǐ jīng jì yǒu zhe zhòng yào yǐng xiǎng.
    California's economic development has an important impact on the overall U.S. economy.

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.

加jiā
利lì
福fú
尼ní
亚yà

加利福尼亚 spells the foreign name California; these characters carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

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 →

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

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

Open 利 →

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
示示shì
Sound part声符shēngfú
畐
畐fú福fú
Same sound today

福 combines 示 and 畐, with 示 carrying the meaning and 畐 the sound.

Open 福 →

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 →

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.

Open 亚 →

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