吉布提 (Jí bù tí) — Djibouti | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

Djibouti

吉布提。
Wǒ míng nián dǎ suàn qù Jí bù tí lǚ yóu.
I plan to travel to Djibouti next year.
吉布提。
Jí bù tí Shì fēi zhōu dōng bù de yí gè xiǎo guó.
Djibouti is a small country in East Africa.
吉布提。
Zhōng guó zài Jí bù tí jiàn le yí gè jūn shì jī dì.
China built a military base in Djibouti.

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.

吉布提 spells the foreign name Djibouti; the characters carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

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

In the earliest forms, 吉 was drawn with a mouth-like lower part and an upper part that later became today's upper shape.

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

巾巾jīnkerchief

Sound part声符shēngfú

父

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

布 pairs 巾, a kerchief, with 父 as a sound part.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

扌是提

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

是

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

提 shows 扌 (hand) beside 是, which gives the pronunciation.