名叫 (míng jiào) — to be called; to be named (a specific name) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A linking verb meaning 'to be called / to be named' — it joins a person or thing with their specific name. Closer to 'named' than to the action 'to call' (叫).

verb

to be calledto be named (a specific name)

Examples

名叫。
Tā míng jiào lǐ míng.
He is called Li Ming.
名叫。
Nà ge cūn zhuāng míng jiào táo huā yuán.
That village is named Peach Blossom Spring.
名叫。
Yì zhǒng xīn fā xiàn de zhí wù míng jiào cháng shēng cǎo.
A newly discovered plant is called Everlasting Grass.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

名 means name and 叫 means call; together they mean that the name is called something.

Characters in this word

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

夕口名

夕夕xīcrescent moon
口口kǒumouth

名 puts 夕 (crescent moon) above 口 (mouth), showing a name spoken in the dark.

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

口丩叫

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

丩

丩jiū叫jiào

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

叫 shows a mouth 口 and a sound part 丩. The mouth fits the old sense of shouting.

Appears in

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