科林斯 (Kē lín sī) — Corinth, a city in Greece (ancient and modern)

Definition

noun

Corintha city in Greece (ancient and modern)

科林斯。
Jīn nián xià tiān wǒ dǎ suàn qù Kē lín sī lǚ xíng.
I plan to travel to Corinth this summer.
科林斯。
Kē lín sī Shì gǔ xī là zhòng yào de chéng bāng zhī yī.
Corinth was one of the important city-states of ancient Greece.
科林斯。
Tā zài Kē lín sī dà xué xué xí kǎo gǔ xué.
He studies archaeology at the University of Corinth.

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.

科林斯 spells a foreign name; 科, 林 and 斯 carry no meaning of their own 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.

禾斗科

Meaning part形符xíngfú

斗斗dòumeasuring tool

Sound part声符shēngfú

禾

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

科 pairs 禾, which gives the hé sound, with 斗, a measuring tool.

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

木木林

林 is made of two 木 (tree) placed side by side, showing many trees together, hence a forest.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.