坎帕拉 (Kǎn pà lā) — Kampala, capital of Uganda

Definition

noun
Kampalacapital of Uganda

Examples

  • 坎帕拉。
    Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù Kǎn pà lā lǚ yóu.
    I want to travel to Kampala next year.
  • 坎帕拉。
    Kǎn pà lā Shì wū gān dá de shǒu dū.
    Kampala is the capital of Uganda.
  • 坎帕拉。
    Tā zài Kǎn pà lā gōng zuò le wǔ nián.
    He worked in Kampala for five years.

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.

坎kǎn
帕pà
拉lā

“坎帕拉” carries no meaning of its own; the characters spell Kampala.

Sound-only characters

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
土土tǔearth; soil
Sound part声符shēngfú
欠
欠qiàn坎
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.

Open 坎 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 帕 →

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 →

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