明尼苏达 (Míng ní sū dá) — Minnesota

Definition

noun
Minnesota

Examples

  • 明尼苏达。
    Wǒ qù guò liǎng cì Míng ní sū dá.
    I've been to Minnesota twice.
  • 明尼苏达。
    Míng ní sū dá De dōng tiān fēi cháng lěng.
    The winter in Minnesota is very cold.
  • 明尼苏达。
    Tā zhù zài Míng ní sū dá de yí gè xiǎo chéng shì lǐ.
    He lives in a small city in Minnesota.

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.

明míng
尼ní
苏sū
达dá

The characters 明尼苏达 only spell a foreign name; they carry no meaning of their own.

Sound-only characters

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

明 combines 日 (sun) and 月 (moon), showing the sun just rising while the moon has not yet set, or two bright objects in the sky, to express brightness.

Open 明 →

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

The shape draws one person sitting on or leaning against another person, giving the sense of stopping close to someone.

Open 尼 →

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 蘇; 苏 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 苏 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words it is 蘇; in others it is 甦 or 囌.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艸艸cǎograss; plant
Sound part声符shēngfú
穌
穌sū蘇Sū
Same sound today

The traditional form 蘇 uses 艸 (grass; plant) for meaning and 穌 for sound; the simplified 苏 is a later shorthand.

Open 苏 →

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
辶Written in full as辵chuò
Sound part声符shēngfú
大
大dà达dá
Same sound today

This form 达 pairs 辶 (written in full as 辵) with 大 as a sound component.

Open 达 →

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