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比索 (bǐ suǒ) — peso (unit of currency used in Mexico, Philippines, etc.)

Definition

noun
peso (unit of currency used in Mexico, Philippines, etc.)

Examples

  • 比索。
    Zhè ge mò xī gē juàn bǐng zhǐ yào èr shí bǐ suǒ.
    This Mexican burrito is only twenty pesos.
  • 比索。
    Yì měi yuán kě yǐ duì huàn dà yuē èr shí bǐ suǒ.
    One US dollar can be exchanged for about twenty pesos.
  • 比索。
    Tā zài fēi lǜ bīn yòng bǐ suǒ mǎi dōng xī hěn fāng biàn.
    It's convenient for him to use pesos to buy things in the Philippines.

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.

比bǐ
索suǒ

比索 spells the foreign word peso; the characters carry no meaning of their own here.

Sound-only characters

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

  • 匕匕bǐ
  • 匕匕bǐ

比 is two 匕 placed side by side. Chu Wan-li treats both as sound parts, while an old reading takes the side-by-side arrangement as putting things next to each other.

Open 比 →

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

  • 糸糸mìthread
  • 𣎳𣎳𣎳strip fibres off a hemp stalk

索 combines 糸 (thread) and 𣎳 (stripping fibres from a hemp stalk), showing threads or rope being pulled out from a fabric.

Open 索 →
Appears in
Money & Currency

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