婆罗洲 (Pó luó zhōu) — Borneo | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

Borneo

Examples

婆罗洲。
Pó luó zhōu Shì yà zhōu zuì dà de dǎo yǔ zhī yī.
Borneo is one of the largest islands in Asia.
婆罗洲。
Wǒ jì huà míng nián qù Pó luó zhōu lǚ xíng.
I plan to travel to Borneo next year.
婆罗洲。
Pó luó zhōu De rè dài yǔ lín fēi cháng yǒu míng.
The tropical rainforest of Borneo is very famous.

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.

婆罗Borneo

音译Transliteration

婆罗 spells Borneo, and 洲 means island, so the whole names Borneo Island.

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.

波女婆

Meaning part形符xíngfú

女女nǚwoman

Sound part声符shēngfú

波

波bō婆pó

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

婆 pairs 女 (woman) with 波, which gives the sound. The 女 part shows the character is about a woman.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 羅; 罗 is its simplified writing.

网网wǎngnet
維維wéibird (tied with string)

The traditional form 羅 combines 网 (net) with 維 (a bird tied with string) to show a net for catching birds; the simplified 罗 is a later abbreviation.

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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