爱沙尼亚 (Aì shā ní yà) — Estonia

Definition

noun
Estonia

Examples

  • 爱沙尼亚。
    Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù Aì shā ní yà lǚ yóu.
    I want to travel to Estonia next year.
  • 爱沙尼亚。
    Aì shā ní yà Shì ōu zhōu de yí gè xiǎo guó jiā.
    Estonia is a small country in Europe.
  • 爱沙尼亚。
    Tā de péng you lái zì Aì shā ní yà.
    His friend is from Estonia.

Origin

Characters in this word

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 →

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

沙 puts 少 (dots) beside 水 (water), showing sand on a shoreline.

Open 沙 →

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

The shape draws one person sitting on or leaning against another person, giving the sense of stopping close to someone.

Open 尼 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 亞; 亚 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 亞 likely shows an overhead view of a construction, perhaps a 亞-shaped tomb. Its later simplified form 亚 is just a shorthand.

Open 亚 →

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