法拉利 (Fǎ lā lì) — Ferrari (Italian luxury sports car brand)

Definition

noun
Ferrari (Italian luxury sports car brand)
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 法拉利
    Tā kāi le yí liàng hóng sè de Fǎ lā lì.
    He drives a red Ferrari.
  • 法拉利
    Wǒ zài chē zhǎn shàng kàn dào le yí liàng Fǎ lā lì.
    I saw a Ferrari at the auto show.
  • 法拉利
    Tā de mèng xiǎng shì mǎi yí liàng Fǎ lā lì.
    His dream is to buy a Ferrari.

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.

The characters 法, 拉, 利 only spell the foreign name Ferrari and carry no meaning 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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
Written in full asshuǐwater
zhìa type of antelope or caprid
Sound part声符shēngfú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

法's older form combined 氵 (water) and 廌 (a type of antelope or caprid), with 盍 as a sound part; later 廌 was dropped.

Open 法 →

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

拉 pairs 手 (hand) with 立, a component that supplies the sound.

Open 拉 →

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

利 combines 禾 (grain) and 刀 (knife), showing a knife used to cut grain.

Open 利 →
Appears in

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