新加坡 (Xīn jiā pō) — Singapore (country/city-state in Southeast Asia)

Definition

noun

Singapore (country/city-state in Southeast Asia)

Examples

新加坡。
Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù Xīn jiā pō lǚ yóu.
I want to travel to Singapore next year.
新加坡。
Xīn jiā pō De shí wù hěn yǒu tè sè.
Singaporean food is very distinctive.
新加坡。
Tā zài Xīn jiā pō gōng zuò le wǔ nián.
He worked in Singapore for five years.

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.

新xīn

加jiā

坡pō

The characters only spell the foreign name Singapore; none carries meaning 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.

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú

斤斤jīn

Sound part声符shēngfú

辛

辛xīn新xīn

Same sound today

The shape originally paired 斤, for chopping wood, with 辛 for sound. It was borrowed for its sound to write 新, so the chopping-wood parts are unrelated to 'new'.

Open 新 →

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

力口加

力力lìstrength
口口kǒumouth

加 pairs 力 and 口. In one explanation 力 is strength and 口 is the mouth, meaning exaggeration; in another 力 is plowing effort and 口 is breath or exclamation, meaning extra effort.

Open 加 →

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

土皮坡

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔdirt

Sound part声符shēngfú

皮

皮pí坡pō

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

坡 combines 土, shown as dirt, with 皮, a part used for sound.

Open 坡 →

Appears in