安纳托利亚 (An nà tuō lì yà) — Anatolia (Asia Minor)

Definition

noun
Anatolia (Asia Minor)

Examples

  • 安纳托利亚。
    An nà tuō lì yà Shì tǔ ěr qí de yí gè dì qū.
    Anatolia is a region of Turkey.
  • 安纳托利亚。
    Gǔ dài An nà tuō lì yà yǒu xǔ duō zhòng yào de wén míng.
    Ancient Anatolia had many important civilizations.
  • 安纳托利亚。
    Měi nián yǒu hěn duō yóu kè qù An nà tuō lì yà lǚ yóu.
    Every year many tourists travel to Anatolia.

Origin

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 安纳托利亚 only spell the foreign name Anatolia and carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

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
宀宀mián
Sound part声符shēngfú
女
女nǚ安ān
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.

Open 安 →

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 納; 纳 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糸糸mìsilk, thin thread
Sound part声符shēngfú
内
内nèi納nà
Same sound today

The traditional form 納 has 糸 (silk, thin thread) and 内, which gives the sound; the simplified 纳 is a shorthand.

Open 纳 →

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
手手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
乇
乇tuō托tuō
Same sound today

托 is built from 手 (hand) and 乇, which gives the sound tuō.

Open 托 →

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

利 combines 禾 (grain) and 刀 (knife), showing a knife used to cut grain.

Open 利 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 亞; 亚 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 亞 likely shows an overhead view of a construction, perhaps a 亞-shaped tomb. Its later simplified form 亚 is just a shorthand.

Open 亚 →

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