琦玉县 (qí yù xiàn) — Saitama Prefecture (Japan)

Definition

noun
Saitama Prefecture (Japan)

Examples

  • 琦玉县。
    Wǒ míng nián dǎ suàn qù qí yù xiàn lǚ yóu.
    I plan to travel to Saitama Prefecture next year.
  • 琦玉县。
    qí yù xiàn Shì rì běn guān dōng dì qū de yí gè xiàn.
    Saitama Prefecture is a prefecture in the Kanto region of Japan.
  • 琦玉县。
    Tā zài qí yù xiàn de yì jiā gōng chǎng gōng zuò.
    He works at a factory in Saitama Prefecture.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

琦玉Saitama
琦qí玉yù
音译Transliteration
县xiànprefecture

“琦玉” spells Saitama and “县” means prefecture.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
玉玉yùjade
Sound part声符shēngfú
奇
奇qí琦qí
Same sound today

The left part 玉 shows jade, and the right part 奇 gives the sound, forming 琦, a word for fine jade.

Open 琦 →

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

玉 was drawn as a ritual jade piece, or as jade pieces strung together, and was made distinct from 王 by adding a dot.

Open 玉 →

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 縣; 县 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 縣, not the simplified 县, drew an eye 目 standing for a head hung by a string 糸 from a tree 木. It was borrowed for its sound to write the modern meaning "county", so that picture is unrelated.

Open 县 →

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