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海洛英 (hǎi luò yīng) — heroin

Definition

noun
heroin

Examples

  • 海洛英。
    Tā yīn wèi xī hǎi luò yīng bèi zhuā le.
    He was arrested for using heroin.
  • 海洛英。
    Tā men mài hǎi luò yīng zhuàn le hěn duō qián.
    They made a lot of money selling heroin.
  • 海洛英。
    hǎi luò yīng Duì rén de shēn tǐ fēi cháng bù hǎo.
    Heroin is very harmful to the human body.

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.

海hǎi
洛luò
英yīng

The characters 海 洛 英 here only spell the foreign sound for heroin; they carry no meaning of their own.

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

海 pairs 氵 (water) with 每, which gives the sound. The 氵 side shows it is about water.

Open 海 →

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
水水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
各
各gè洛Luò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

洛 shows 水 (water) and 各, and 各 supplies the sound.

Open 洛 →

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
艹Written in full as艸cǎograss
Sound part声符shēngfú
央
央yāng英yīng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

英 pairs 艹 (grass) with 央, which gives the sound.

Open 英 →
Appears in
Crime & Police

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