爱荷华 (ài hé huá) — Iowa (US state)

Definition

noun
Iowa (US state)

Examples

  • 爱荷华。
    ài hé huá Shì měi guó zhōng xī bù de yí gè zhōu.
    Iowa is a state in the Midwest of the United States.
  • 爱荷华。
    ài hé huá Yǐ nóng yè hé yù mǐ shēng chǎn wén míng.
    Iowa is famous for its agriculture and corn production.
  • 爱荷华。
    Wǒ men zài ài hé huá zhù le liǎng nián.
    We lived in Iowa for two 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
荷hé
华huá

爱荷华 uses the characters only to spell the foreign name Iowa; the characters do not carry their usual meanings here.

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 →

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
艸艸cǎograss; plant
Sound part声符shēngfú
何
何hé荷hé
Same sound today

荷 has 艸, the grass/plant form, to show a plant, and 何 to give the sound.

Open 荷 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 華; 华 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 華 showed flowers on a plant, with stalk and leaves below. The simplified 华 is a later shorthand and not the original picture.

Open 华 →

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