波斯 (Bō sī) — Persia (historical name for the region correspo… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

Persia (historical name for the region corresponding to modern Iran)

Examples

波斯。
Bō sī Dì guó céng jīng shì shì jiè shàng zuì qiáng dà de guó jiā zhī yī.
The Persian Empire was once one of the most powerful countries in the world.
波斯。
Gǔ dài Bō sī de wén huà hé yì shù duì xī fāng yǐng xiǎng hěn dà.
The culture and art of ancient Persia had a great influence on the West.
波斯。
Bō sī Dì tǎn zài shì jiè gè dì dōu fēi cháng yǒu míng.
Persian carpets are very famous all over the world.

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 波 and 斯 carry no meaning of their own here; together they spell the foreign name for Persia.

Sound-only characters

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

氵皮波

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

皮

皮pí波bō

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

The left side 氵 is water, and the right side 皮 gives the sound.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in

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