叶县 (Yè xiàn) — Ye County or Yexian (a county in Pingdingshan, Henan)

Definition

noun
Ye County or Yexian (a county in Pingdingshan, Henan)

Examples

  • 叶县。
    Yè xiàn Zài hé nán shěng píng dǐng shān shì.
    Yexian is in Pingdingshan City, Henan Province.
  • 叶县。
    Wǒ qù guò Yè xiàn yí cì.
    I have been to Yexian once.
  • 叶县。
    Yè xiàn Shì yí gè lì shǐ yōu jiǔ de dì fāng.
    Yexian is a place with a long history.

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.

叶yèYe
县xiàncounty

叶 names the place, and 县 marks it as a county, forming Ye County.

Characters in this word

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
口口kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
十
十shí叶yè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 叶 pairs 口 (mouth) with 十 (ten) as an old form meaning cooperate; it later came to mean leaf because it sounded similar.

Open 叶 →

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

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 縣; 县 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 縣, not the simplified 县, drew an eye 目 standing for a head hung by a string 糸 from a tree 木. It was borrowed for its sound to write the modern meaning "county", so that picture is unrelated.

Open 县 →

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