敦刻尔克 (dūn kè ěr kè) — Dunkirk (port city in northern France)

Definition

Proper noun for the French port city of Dunkirk. In Chinese history context it usually refers to the 1940 WWII evacuation (敦刻尔克大撤退).

noun
Dunkirk (port city in northern France)
Measure word · 座

Examples

  • ，敦刻尔克。
    Èr zhàn qī jiān, dūn kè ěr kè dà chè tuì shì yí cì zhòng yào de lì shǐ shì jiàn.
    During WWII, the Dunkirk evacuation was an important historical event.
  • 敦刻尔克，。
    dūn kè ěr kè Wèi yú fǎ guó běi bù, kào jìn bǐ lì shí biān jìng.
    Dunkirk is located in northern France, near the Belgian border.
  • 《敦刻尔克》。
    Diàn yǐng 《dūn kè ěr kè》 jiǎng shù le yí gè guān yú xī wàng de gù shi.
    The movie 'Dunkirk' tells a story about hope.

Origin

Characters in this word

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

  • 亯亯xiǎngancestral shrine
  • 羊羊yángsheep

The form behind 敦 combines 亯, an ancestral shrine, with 羊, a sheep, showing a cooked goat as a sacrifice.

Open 敦 →

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
刂Written in full as刀dāo
Sound part声符shēngfú
亥
亥hài刻kè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

刻 is made of 刂, a form of 刀 (knife), and 亥, which gives the sound.

Open 刻 →

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 爾; 尔 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 爾, simplified as 尔, originally drew cloth on a loom with crossing threads. It was borrowed for its sound to write “you,” so the picture is unrelated to that meaning.

Open 尔 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 克 →

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