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布赖顿 (bù lài dú) — Brighton (city in England)

Definition

noun
Brighton (city in England)

Examples

  • 布赖顿。
    bù lài dú Shì yīng guó nán bù de yí gè hǎi bīn chéng shì.
    Brighton is a seaside city in southern England.
  • 布赖顿。
    Wǒ dǎ suàn míng nián shǔ jià qù bù lài dú lǚ yóu.
    I plan to travel to Brighton next summer vacation.
  • 布赖顿。
    Cóng lún dūn zuò huǒ chē dào bù lài dú zhī xū yào yí gè xiǎo shí.
    It only takes an hour by train from London to Brighton.

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
赖lài
顿dùn

布赖顿 spells Brighton; 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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 賴; 赖 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèicowry
Sound part声符shēngfú
剌
剌là賴lài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 賴 uses 貝 (a cowry) for profit and 剌 for the sound; the simplified 赖 is a shorthand.

Open 赖 →

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 頓; 顿 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yè
Sound part声符shēngfú
屯
屯tún頓dùn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 頓 combines 屯, drawn as a kneeling person's head, with 頁, and expresses a bow or kowtow. The simplified 顿 replaces 頁 with 页.

Open 顿 →
Appears in
City & Urban

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