忽必烈 (Hū bì liè) — Kublai Khan (1215–1294), founder and first empe…

Definition

忽必烈 (Hū Bìliè) is the Chinese name of Kublai Khan (1215–1294), grandson of Genghis Khan and founder of the Yuan dynasty.

noun

Kublai Khan (1215–1294), founder and first emperor of the Yuan dynasty

忽必烈。
Hū bì liè Jiàn lì le yuán cháo.
Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty.
忽必烈。
Hū bì liè Shì chéng jí sī hán de sūn zi.
Kublai Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan.
忽必烈。
Lì shǐ xué jiā duì Hū bì liè de píng jià hěn gāo.
Historians have a high opinion of Kublai Khan.

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 忽, 必, and 烈 carry no independent meaning here; the word spells the Mongolian name Kublai.

Sound-only characters

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

勿心忽

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

勿

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

忽 combines 心, meaning heart, and 勿, used for its sound.

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

The shape of 必 comes from the handle on the right side of a weapon, with two extra strokes added to its sides.

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

列灬烈

Meaning part形符xíngfú

灬Written in full as火huǒfire

Sound part声符shēngfú

列

Same sound today

烈 pairs 列 for the sound with 灬, a form of 火 (fire).