大洲 (dà zhōu) — continent | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

continent

Measure word · 个

Examples

大洲。
Yà zhōu shì shì jiè shàng miàn jī zuì dà de dà zhōu.
Asia is the largest continent in the world by area.
大洲，？
Dì qiú shàng yǒu qī gè dà zhōu, nǐ dōu zhī dào ma?
There are seven continents on Earth; do you know them all?
大洲。
Tā mèng xiǎng zhe yǒu yì tiān néng zǒu biàn měi yí gè dà zhōu.
He dreams of one day traveling to every continent.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

洲zhōulandmass; continent

大 'big' and 洲 'landmass' describe a continent.

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.

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

水水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

州

州zhōu洲zhōu

Same sound today

洲 is built from 水 (water) and 州, which gives the sound.

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