安大略 (ān dà lüè) — Ontario (Canadian province)

Definition

noun

Ontario (Canadian province)

安大略。
ān dà lüè Shěng shì jiā ná dà rén kǒu zuì duō de shěng fèn.
Ontario is Canada's most populous province.
安大略。
Duō lún duō shì ān dà lüè shěng de shǒu fǔ.
Toronto is the capital of Ontario.
安大略。
Wǒ míng nián dǎ suàn qù ān dà lüè lǚ yóu.
I plan to travel to Ontario next year.

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.

The characters carry no meaning here; the word spells the name Ontario.

Sound-only characters

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

宀女安

Meaning part形符xíngfú

宀宀mián

Sound part声符shēngfú

女

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 安, 宀 sits above a seated 女 on a cushion; 宀 is the meaning part, 女 is the sound part, and the character originally meant sitting at ease.

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.

田各略

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

各

各gè略lüè

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

略 combines 田 (field) with 各 for sound; the described idea is walking around a field to outline it.

Appears in