堪培拉 (Kān péi lā) — Canberra (capital of Australia)

Definition

noun

Canberra (capital of Australia)

Examples

堪培拉。
Míng nián wǒ dǎ suàn qù Kān péi lā lǚ yóu.
I plan to travel to Canberra next year.
堪培拉，。
Kān péi lā Shì ào dà lì yà de shǒu dū, zhèng zhì zhōng xīn.
Canberra is the capital of Australia, a political center.
堪培拉，。
Kān péi lā De qiū tiān fēi cháng měi lì, shù yè dōu biàn huáng le.
Canberra's autumn is very beautiful; the leaves all turn yellow.

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.

堪kān

培péi

拉lā

The characters 堪培拉 together spell the name Canberra, carrying no meaning of their own.

Sound-only characters

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

土甚堪

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔearth

Sound part声符shēngfú

甚

甚shèn堪kān

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

The left part 土 is earth. The right part 甚 gives the sound and also hints at something extreme, matching the old idea of a heavy earthen protrusion whose weight one bears.

Open 堪 →

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

土咅培

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔearth

Sound part声符shēngfú

咅

咅pǒu培péi

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

培 is made from 土 (earth) and 咅, which gives the sound.

Open 培 →

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