欧亚 (Oū Yà) — Eurasia | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

Eurasia

欧亚。
Oū Yà Dà lù shì shì jiè shàng zuì dà de dà lù.
Eurasia is the largest continent in the world.
欧亚。
Sī chóu zhī lù lián jiē le Oū Yà de xǔ duō guó jiā.
The Silk Road connected many countries in Eurasia.
欧亚。
Oū Yà Jīng jì lián méng cù jìn le qū yù hé zuò.
The Eurasian Economic Union promotes regional cooperation.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

欧 (Europe) and 亚 (Asia) are joined side by side to name the combined continent.

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 歐; 欧 is its simplified writing.

區欠歐

Meaning part形符xíngfú

欠欠qiànto yawn; to exhale

Sound part声符shēngfú

區

區qū歐Ōu

Same sound today

The traditional form 歐 pairs 區 as a sound with 欠 (to yawn; to exhale), and was originally written for vomiting; simplified 欧 is a later shorthand.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 亞; 亚 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 亞 likely shows an overhead view of a construction, perhaps a 亞-shaped tomb. Its later simplified form 亚 is just a shorthand.