旧金山 (Jiù jīn shān) — San Francisco | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

San Francisco

Examples

旧金山。
Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù Jiù jīn shān lǚ yóu.
I want to travel to San Francisco next year.
旧金山。
Jiù jīn shān De jīn mén dà qiáo hěn yǒu míng.
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is very famous.
旧金山。
Tā zài Jiù jīn shān zhù le shí nián.
He lived in San Francisco for ten years.

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.

金山gold mountain

金jīngold山shānmountain

偏正Modifier + head

旧 means old, 金 gold, 山 mountain; together they name the old gold mountain.

Characters in this word

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 舊; 旧 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

雈雈huánowl

Sound part声符shēngfú

臼

臼jiù舊jiù

Same sound today

The traditional form of 旧 is 舊, which shows 雈, an owl, above 臼, which gives the sound.

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

金 was drawn with marks for two pieces of metal, along with a part that gave its sound; it first meant copper, then metals and gold.

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

山 shows three mountain peaks side by side.

Appears in

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