坎大哈 (Kǎn dà hā) — Kandahar (city in southern Afghanistan)

Definition

noun

Kandahar (city in southern Afghanistan)

坎大哈。
Kǎn dà hā Shì ā fù hàn nán bù de yí gè chéng shì.
Kandahar is a city in southern Afghanistan.
坎大哈。
Lì shǐ shàng Kǎn dà hā shì zhòng yào de mào yì zhōng xīn.
Historically, Kandahar was an important trade center.
坎大哈。
Tā men cóng Kǎn dà hā zuò fēi jī qù shǒu dū.
They flew from Kandahar to the capital.

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.

The characters carry no meaning of their own here; together they transliterate the foreign name Kandahar.

Sound-only characters

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

土欠坎

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔearth; soil

Sound part声符shēngfú

欠

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

坎 is made from 土 (earth; soil) plus 欠 as the sound part.

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

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

口合哈

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

合

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

哈 uses 口 (mouth) to show a mouth-related idea, and 合 as a sound part. The shape of 合 may look like two open mouths, but that is likely by chance.

Appears in