圭亚那 (Guī yà nà) — Guyana (country)

Definition

noun

Guyana (country)

圭亚那。
Wǒ qù nián qù le Guī yà nà lǚ yóu.
I traveled to Guyana last year.
圭亚那。
Guī yà nà Zài nán měi zhōu běi bù.
Guyana is in the northern part of South America.
圭亚那。
Guī yà nà De shǒu dū shì qiáo zhì dūn.
The capital of Guyana is Georgetown.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

圭 stacks two 士 parts, drawn as two ritual axes, perhaps made of jade, one above the other.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 亞; 亚 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 亞 likely shows an overhead view of a construction, perhaps a 亞-shaped tomb. Its later simplified form 亚 is just a shorthand.

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

邑邑yìcity

Sound part声符shēngfú

冄

冉rǎn那nà

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

The right part 邑 shows a city, and the left part 冄 (written 冉) gives the sound. The character first named a state and was later used to mean 'that'.