北安 (Běi ān) — Bei'an (a county-level city in Heilongjiang Province, China)

Definition

noun
Bei'an (a county-level city in Heilongjiang Province, China)

Examples

  • 北安。
    Wǒ míng nián dǎ suàn qù Běi ān lǚ yóu.
    I plan to travel to Bei'an next year.
  • 北安。
    Běi ān Shì hēi lóng jiāng shěng de yí gè zhòng yào chéng shì.
    Bei'an is an important city in Heilongjiang Province.
  • 北安。
    Cóng hā ěr bīn dào Běi ān kāi chē xū yào jǐ gè xiǎo shí.
    It takes a few hours to drive from Harbin to Bei'an.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

The form 北 shows two people standing back to back. It originally meant 'back'.

Open 北 →

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
宀宀mián
Sound part声符shēngfú
女
女nǚ安ān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 安, 宀 sits above a seated 女 on a cushion; 宀 is the meaning part, 女 is the sound part, and the character originally meant sitting at ease.

Open 安 →

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