日本海 (Rì běn Hǎi) — Sea of Japan | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

Sea of Japan

日本海。
Rì běn Hǎi Wèi yú rì běn hé cháo xiǎn bàn dǎo zhī jiān.
The Sea of Japan lies between Japan and the Korean Peninsula.
日本海。
Zhè sōu huò lún zhèng zài Rì běn Hǎi shàng háng xíng.
This cargo ship is sailing on the Sea of Japan.
日本海。
Rì běn Hǎi De yú yè zī yuán fēi cháng fēng fù.
The Sea of Japan has very abundant fishery resources.

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.

日本Japan

偏正Modifier + head

日 'sun' and 本 'origin' form the name 日本, and 海 'sea' labels the body of water.

Characters in this word

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

日 originally drew the sun. A mark was added inside to tell it apart from similar square shapes.

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

本 adds a stroke at the bottom of a tree shape to mark the roots, giving the sense of foundation or original.

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

氵每海

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

每

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

海 pairs 氵 (water) with 每, which gives the sound. The 氵 side shows it is about water.