卢顿 (lú dú) — Luton (town in Bedfordshire, England)

Definition

Proper noun: the town of Luton in southern England (Bedfordshire), best known to travelers as the home of Luton Airport, a budget-airline hub north of London.

noun
Luton (town in Bedfordshire, England)

Examples

  • 卢顿。
    lú dú Shì yīng guó de yí gè xiǎo zhèn.
    Luton is a small town in England.
  • 卢顿。
    lú dú Jī chǎng lí lún dūn hěn jìn.
    Luton Airport is very close to London.
  • 卢顿。
    Tā zhù zài lú dú fù jìn.
    He lives near Luton.

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.

卢lú
顿dùn

卢顿 spells Luton; the characters carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

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 盧; 卢 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
田田tiánpictogram of an oven
皿皿mǐnvessel
Sound part声符shēngfú
虍
虍hū盧lú
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 盧 began as a picture of an oven, later written 田, with 皿 (a vessel) and 虍 (for sound) added; simplified 卢 is a shorthand.

Open 卢 →

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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