北非 (Běi Fēi) — North Africa | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

North Africa

Examples

北非。
Tā qù nián qù le Běi Fēi lǚ xíng.
He went to North Africa for a trip last year.
北非。
Běi Fēi Yǒu hěn duō gǔ lǎo de wén huà yí zhǐ.
North Africa has many ancient cultural sites.
北非。
Zhè jiā gōng sī zài Běi Fēi kāi zhǎn yè wù.
This company is doing business in North Africa.

Origin

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.

北 (north) plus 非 (Africa) denotes northern Africa.

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'.

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

The shape of 非 is drawn from two wings facing opposite directions. It later came to be used for going against or not being.

Appears in

Geography & Landforms

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