加里 (jiā lǐ) — potassium (chemical element K)

Definition

noun

potassium (chemical element K)

Examples

加里。
jiā lǐ Shì yì zhǒng yín bái sè de jīn shǔ yuán sù.
Potassium is a silver-white metallic element.
加里。
Rén tǐ xū yào yí dìng liàng de jiā lǐ lái wéi chí jiàn kāng.
The human body needs a certain amount of potassium to maintain health.
加里。
jiā lǐ Zài gōng yè shàng yě yǒu guǎng fàn de yìng yòng.
Potassium also has wide applications in industry.

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

里lǐ

The characters carry no meaning of their own here; the word is a sound-based loan for the chemical element.

Sound-only characters

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

力口加

力力lìstrength
口口kǒumouth

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 裡; 里 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 里 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (里, 里面) it is 裡; in others (公里) it is 里 or 裏.

衤里裡

Meaning part形符xíngfú

衤Written in full as衣yīclothes

Sound part声符shēngfú

里

里lǐ裡lǐ

Same sound today

The form 裡 pairs 衤 (clothes) with 里 as a sound component.