平方公里 (píng fāng gōng lǐ) — square kilometer

Definition

classifier
square kilometer

Examples

  • 平方公里。
    Zhè ge chéng shì de miàn jī dà yuē shì wǔ qiān píng fāng gōng lǐ.
    This city covers about five thousand square kilometers.
  • 平方公里。
    Měi píng fāng gōng lǐ jū zhù zhe èr bǎi duō rén.
    More than two hundred people live per square kilometer.
  • 平方公里。
    Wǒ guó guó tǔ miàn jī chāo guò jiǔ bǎi liù shí wàn píng fāng gōng lǐ.
    Our country's land area exceeds 9.6 million square kilometers.

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.

平方square
平pínglevel方fāngsquare
偏正Modifier + head
公里kilometer
公gōngmetric里lǐli
偏正Modifier + head

平 and 方 give the square-area sense, while 公 and 里 name the kilometer unit.

Characters in this word

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

The origin is uncertain. One explanation combines 八 (division) and 亏 (exhaled air) to show smooth speech.

Open 平 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 方 →

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

One theory sees 公 as a picture of a wide-mouthed, round-bottomed jar.

Open 公 →

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 裡; 里 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 里 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (里, 里面) it is 裡; in others (公里) it is 里 or 裏.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
衤Written in full as衣yīclothes
Sound part声符shēngfú
里
里lǐ裡lǐ
Same sound today

The form 裡 pairs 衤 (clothes) with 里 as a sound component.

Open 里 →

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