埃塞 (āi sāi) — Ethiopia (abbreviation for 埃塞俄比亚)

Definition

Shortened form of 埃塞俄比亚, used in news, reports, and casual talk instead of the full country name Ethiopia.

adjective

Ethiopia (abbreviation for 埃塞俄比亚)

埃塞。
āi sāi Shì fēi zhōu yí gè lì shǐ yōu jiǔ de guó jiā.
Ethiopia is an African country with a long history.
埃塞。
Wǒ zuì jìn kàn le yí bù guān yú āi sāi de diàn yǐng.
I recently watched a movie about Ethiopia.
埃塞。
āi sāi De kā fēi zài quán shì jiè dōu hěn yǒu míng.
Ethiopian coffee is famous all over the world.

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 spell a shortened foreign name for Ethiopia.

Sound-only characters

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

土矣埃

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔearth; soil

Sound part声符shēngfú

矣

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

The 土 side of 埃 relates to earth or soil, while 矣 gives the sound.

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

塞 combines 宀 (house), 工 (two items), and 廾 (two hands), showing hands stuffing items into a house.