格林纳达 (Gé lín nà dá) — Grenada (country)

Definition

noun
Grenada (country)

Examples

  • 格林纳达。
    Gé lín nà dá Shì jiā lè bǐ hǎi de yí gè dǎo guó.
    Grenada is an island country in the Caribbean Sea.
  • 格林纳达。
    Qù nián wǒ qù le Gé lín nà dá lǚ yóu.
    Last year I went to Grenada for tourism.
  • 格林纳达。
    Gé lín nà dá Yǐ xiāng liào wén míng.
    Grenada is famous for spices.

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.

格gé
林lín
纳nà
达dá

The characters only spell the foreign name Grenada; none carries meaning on its own.

Sound-only characters

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
木木mùwood
Sound part声符shēngfú
各
各gè格gé
Same sound today

格 is built from 木 (wood) on the left and 各 on the right, which gives the sound.

Open 格 →

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

林 is made of two 木 (tree) placed side by side, showing many trees together, hence a forest.

Open 林 →

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 納; 纳 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糸糸mìsilk, thin thread
Sound part声符shēngfú
内
内nèi納nà
Same sound today

The traditional form 納 has 糸 (silk, thin thread) and 内, which gives the sound; the simplified 纳 is a shorthand.

Open 纳 →

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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