多米尼加 (Duō mǐ ní jiā) — Dominica (country in the Caribbean)

Definition

Usually refers to the Dominican Republic (country sharing Hispaniola with Haiti), not the smaller island nation Dominica (often called 多米尼克). The capital Santo Domingo (圣多明各) is the big clue.

noun
Dominica (country in the Caribbean)

Examples

  • 多米尼加。
    Duō mǐ ní jiā Shì yí gè měi lì de jiā lè bǐ dǎo guó.
    Dominica is a beautiful Caribbean island nation.
  • 多米尼加。
    Qù nián wǒ qù Duō mǐ ní jiā dù le yí gè xīng qī de jiǎ.
    I went to Dominica last year for a one-week vacation.
  • 多米尼加，。
    Duō mǐ ní jiā De shǒu dū shì shèng duō míng gè, nà lǐ yǒu gǔ lǎo de wén huà yí jì.
    The capital of Dominica is Santo Domingo, which has ancient cultural relics.

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.

多duō
米mǐ
尼ní
加jiā

多米尼加 spells the foreign name; the characters carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

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

多 originally showed two pieces of meat placed together; the repeated meat shape gives the sense of many.

Open 多 →

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

米 is a picture of rice kernels without husk, with the horizontal stroke as a bamboo sieve. It is unrelated to similar-looking grain characters.

Open 米 →

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

The shape draws one person sitting on or leaning against another person, giving the sense of stopping close to someone.

Open 尼 →

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

加 pairs 力 and 口. In one explanation 力 is strength and 口 is the mouth, meaning exaggeration; in another 力 is plowing effort and 口 is breath or exclamation, meaning extra effort.

Open 加 →

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