法老 (fǎ lǎo) — pharaoh | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

pharaoh

Measure word · 位

法老。
Gǔ āi jí de fǎ lǎo yōng yǒu zhì gāo wú shàng de quán lì.
The pharaohs of ancient Egypt held supreme power.
法老。
Zhè zuò jīn zì tǎ shì mǒu wèi fǎ lǎo de líng mù.
This pyramid is the tomb of a certain pharaoh.
法老。
Kǎo gǔ xué jiā fā xiàn le fǎ lǎo de huáng jīn miàn jù.
Archaeologists discovered the pharaoh's golden mask.

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.

法 and 老 carry no meaning here; the form spells the foreign title.

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

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

廌廌zhìa type of antelope or caprid

Sound part声符shēngfú

盍

盍hé法fǎ

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.

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

The shape 老 combines 人 (man), 毛 (hair), and 匕 (cane), showing a man with long hair leaning on a cane.

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