喜玛拉雅 (xǐ mǎ lā yǎ) — Himalayas

Definition

A proper noun naming the Himalayas mountain range. 喜马拉雅山脉 is the full form; 喜玛拉雅 is a shorter colloquial variant.

noun
Himalayas
Easily confused

Examples

  • 喜玛拉雅。
    xǐ mǎ lā yǎ Shì shì jiè shàng zuì gāo de shān mài.
    The Himalayas are the highest mountain range in the world.
  • 喜玛拉雅。
    Měi nián yǒu hěn duō dēng shān zhě lái dào xǐ mǎ lā yǎ.
    Every year many climbers come to the Himalayas.
  • 喜玛拉雅。
    Cóng fēi jī shàng kě yǐ qīng chǔ dì kàn dào xǐ mǎ lā yǎ.
    You can clearly see the Himalayas from the airplane.

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.

喜xǐ
玛mǎ
拉lā
雅yǎ

喜玛拉雅 spells the foreign name Himalayas; these characters carry no independent meaning here.

Sound-only characters

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

喜 combines 壴, a drum, with 口, a mouth.

Open 喜 →

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 瑪; 玛 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
𤣩Written in full as玉yùjade
Sound part声符shēngfú
馬
馬mǎ瑪
Same sound today

For 玛, the traditional form 瑪 combines 𤣩, a jade part, with 馬, which gives the sound.

Open 玛 →

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
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
立
立lì拉lā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

拉 pairs 手 (hand) with 立, a component that supplies the sound.

Open 拉 →

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
隹隹zhuīa short-tailed bird
Sound part声符shēngfú
牙
牙yá雅yǎ
Same sound today

雅 pairs 隹, a short-tailed bird, with 牙 as its sound part; the bird was a rook/crow, and the sense was extended to refined.

Open 雅 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.