太阳城 (tài yáng chéng) — Sun City (place name)

Definition

noun
Sun City (place name)

Examples

  • 太阳城。
    Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù tài yáng chéng lǚ yóu.
    I want to travel to Sun City next year.
  • 太阳城。
    tài yáng chéng Wèi yú fēi zhōu nán bù.
    Sun City is located in southern Africa.
  • 太阳城。
    Tā men jì huà zài tài yáng chéng jǔ bàn huì yì.
    They plan to hold a conference at Sun City.

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.

太阳sun
太tàigreat阳yángsun
偏正Modifier + head
城chéngcity

太阳 gives sun, 城 gives city, forming a city named for the sun.

Characters in this word

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

太 is a modified form of 大, with an extra dot added to show 'too big'.

Open 太 →

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 陽; 阳 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阜阜fùhill
Sound part声符shēngfú
昜
昜yáng陽yáng
Same sound today

In the traditional form 陽, 阜 shows a hill and 昜 is the older character for the word, tied to sunshine and the sound; simplified 阳 is a later shorthand.

Open 阳 →

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
土土tǔsoil
Sound part声符shēngfú
成
成chéng城chéng
Same sound today

城 pairs 土 (soil) with 成 as a sound part, because city walls were originally made of stamped earth.

Open 城 →

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