博尔顿 (Bó ěr dùn) — Bolton (city in England, UK); Bolton (surname)

Definition

noun
Bolton (city in England, UK)Bolton (surname)

Examples

  • 博尔顿。
    Wǒ cóng lái méi qù guò Bó ěr dùn.
    I have never been to Bolton.
  • 博尔顿。
    Bó ěr dùn Shì yīng guó de yí gè xiǎo zhèn.
    Bolton is a small town in England.
  • 博尔顿。
    Wǒ de lǎo shī xìng Bó ěr dùn.
    My teacher's surname is Bolton.

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.

博bó
尔ěr
顿dùn

The characters 博尔顿 carry no meaning of their own; they spell the English name Bolton.

Sound-only characters

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
十十shíten
Sound part声符shēngfú
尃
尃fū博
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from combining 十 (ten) with 尃; 尃 gives the sound.

Open 博 →

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 爾; 尔 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 爾, simplified as 尔, originally drew cloth on a loom with crossing threads. It was borrowed for its sound to write “you,” so the picture is unrelated to that meaning.

Open 尔 →

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 頓; 顿 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yè
Sound part声符shēngfú
屯
屯tún頓dùn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 頓 combines 屯, drawn as a kneeling person's head, with 頁, and expresses a bow or kowtow. The simplified 顿 replaces 頁 with 页.

Open 顿 →

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