TongTong
Sign in

布法罗 (Bù fǎ luó) — Buffalo (city in New York, USA)

Definition

noun
Buffalo (city in New York, USA)

Examples

  • 布法罗。
    Wǒ qù nián xià tiān qù Bù fǎ luó lǚ yóu le.
    I traveled to Buffalo last summer.
  • 布法罗。
    Bù fǎ luó Wèi yú měi guó niǔ yuē zhōu xī bù.
    Buffalo is located in western New York State.
  • 布法罗。
    Cóng Bù fǎ luó kāi chē dào duō lún duō zhī xū yào liǎng xiǎo shí.
    It only takes two hours to drive from Buffalo to Toronto.

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.

布bù
法fǎ
罗luó

布法罗 spells Buffalo; the characters 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
巾巾jīnkerchief
Sound part声符shēngfú
父
父fù布bù
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

布 pairs 巾, a kerchief, with 父 as a sound part.

Open 布 →

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
廌廌zhìa type of antelope or caprid
Sound part声符shēngfú
盍
盍hé法fǎ
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

法's older form combined 氵 (water) and 廌 (a type of antelope or caprid), with 盍 as a sound part; later 廌 was dropped.

Open 法 →

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.

Open 罗 →
Appears in
City & Urban

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