大不列颠 (Dà Bù liè diān) — Great Britain

Definition

The Chinese name for the island of Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) — note it is the island, not the whole UK; the country is 英国.

noun
Great Britain

Examples

  • 大不列颠。
    Dà Bù liè diān Shì yīng guó de yí gè dì qū.
    Great Britain is a region of the United Kingdom.
  • 大不列颠，。
    Wǒ qù nián qù Dà Bù liè diān lǚ yóu, kàn dào le hěn duō lì shǐ jiàn zhù.
    I traveled to Great Britain last year and saw many historical buildings.
  • 大不列颠、。
    Dà Bù liè diān Yóu yīng gé lán, sū gé lán hé wēi ěr shì zǔ chéng.
    Great Britain consists of England, Scotland, and Wales.

Origin

Characters in this word

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.

Open 大 →

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

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

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

列 combines 歹, drawn as skeletal remains, and 刀, a knife, to depict tearing apart.

Open 列 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 顛; 颠 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yèhead
Sound part声符shēngfú
真
真zhēn顛diān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 顛 combines 頁, a head, with 真 as a sound clue; the simplified 颠 is a later shorthand, and its parts are not the historical pieces.

Open 颠 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.