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加拉加斯 (Jiā lā jiā sī) — Caracas, capital of Venezuela

Definition

noun
Caracascapital of Venezuela

Examples

  • 加拉加斯。
    Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù Jiā lā jiā sī lǚ yóu.
    I want to travel to Caracas next year.
  • 加拉加斯。
    Jiā lā jiā sī Shì wěi nèi ruì lā de shǒu dū.
    Caracas is the capital of Venezuela.
  • 加拉加斯。
    Tā zài Jiā lā jiā sī zhù le sān nián.
    He lived in Caracas for three years.

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
拉lā
加jiā
斯sī

The characters 加拉加斯 transliterate the foreign name Caracas; no part carries an independent meaning.

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 →

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
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
立
立lì拉lā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

拉 pairs 手 (hand) with 立, a component that supplies the sound.

Open 拉 →

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 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 斯 →
Appears in
City & Urban

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