爱丁堡 (Aì dīng bǎo) — Edinburgh (capital of Scotland)

Definition

noun

Edinburgh (capital of Scotland)

Examples

爱丁堡。
Wǒ dǎ suàn míng nián qù Aì dīng bǎo lǚ yóu.
I plan to travel to Edinburgh next year.
爱丁堡。
Aì dīng bǎo De chéng bǎo shì zhè zuò chéng shì zuì zhù míng de jǐng diǎn.
Edinburgh Castle is the most famous attraction in this city.
爱丁堡。
Tā zài Aì dīng bǎo dà xué dú le sān nián shū.
He studied at the University of Edinburgh for three years.

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.

爱ài

丁dīng

堡bǎo

The characters carry no meaning of their own here; the word transliterates the foreign name Edinburgh.

Sound-only characters

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 愛; 爱 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

旡

旡jì愛ài

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

For the traditional form 愛, an older shape paired 心 (heart) with 旡 as its sound part; later a foot-like 夊 was added below. The simplified 爱 is a later variant that replaces the lower part with 友.

Open 爱 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

丁 may picture a nail head, a person's head, a square city wall, or a square star pattern.

Open 丁 →

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

保土堡

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔ

Sound part声符shēngfú

保

保bǎo堡bǔ

Same sound today