圣胡安 (shèng hú ān) — San Juan (capital of Puerto Rico)

Definition

noun
San Juan (capital of Puerto Rico)

Examples

  • 圣胡安。
    shèng hú ān Shì bō duō lí gè de shǒu dū.
    San Juan is the capital of Puerto Rico.
  • 圣胡安。
    Qù nián xià tiān wǒ qù le shèng hú ān lǚ yóu.
    I traveled to San Juan last summer.
  • 圣胡安。
    shèng hú ān De lǎo chéng qū yǒu hěn duō lì shǐ jiàn zhù.
    The old town of San Juan has many historical buildings.

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.

圣shèng
胡hú
安ān

The characters 圣胡安 are used phonetically to spell San Juan, not to convey their separate meanings.

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 聖; 圣 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
耳耳ěrear
Sound part声符shēngfú
呈
呈chéng聖shèng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 聖 puts 耳 (ear) beside 呈, which gives the sound; the simplified 圣 is a shorthand, and its parts are not the historical parts.

Open 圣 →

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
⺼Written in full as肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ胡hú
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

胡 combines 古, which points to its sound, with ⺼ (肉), meaning meat or flesh.

Open 胡 →

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
宀宀mián
Sound part声符shēngfú
女
女nǚ安ān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 安, 宀 sits above a seated 女 on a cushion; 宀 is the meaning part, 女 is the sound part, and the character originally meant sitting at ease.

Open 安 →

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