江陵 (Jiāng líng) — Jiangling (a county in Hubei province, China)

Definition

noun

Jiangling (a county in Hubei province, China)

江陵。
Wǒ qù nián qù guò Jiāng líng.
I went to Jiangling last year.
江陵。
Jiāng líng Shì zhōng guó hú běi shěng de yí gè xiàn.
Jiangling is a county in Hubei province, China.
江陵。
Cóng wǔ hàn dào Jiāng líng kāi chē yào liǎng gè xiǎo shí.
It takes two hours by car from Wuhan to Jiangling.

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.

江, river, and 陵, hill, together name a hill by the river.

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.

氵工江

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

工

工gōng江jiāng

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

江 puts 氵, the water side, beside 工, which gives a sound; the water part points to its river meaning.

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

The shape pairs 阜 (mound) with 夌, an earlier form meaning “mound; hill” that gives the sound.