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约翰内斯堡 (Yuē hàn nèi sī bǎo) — Johannesburg (city in South Africa)

Definition

noun
Johannesburg (city in South Africa)

Examples

  • 约翰内斯堡。
    Yuē hàn nèi sī bǎo Shì nán fēi zuì dà de chéng shì.
    Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa.
  • 约翰内斯堡，。
    Wǒ qù nián qù guò Yuē hàn nèi sī bǎo, nà lǐ hěn yǒu qù.
    I went to Johannesburg last year, and it was very interesting.
  • 约翰内斯堡。
    Cóng běi jīng fēi wǎng Yuē hàn nèi sī bǎo xū yào shí jǐ gè xiǎo shí.
    It takes about ten hours to fly from Beijing to Johannesburg.

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.

约yuē
翰hàn
内nèi
斯sī
堡bǎo

The characters 约翰内斯堡 spell Johannesburg and carry no separate 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 約; 约 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糸糸mìrope
Sound part声符shēngfú
勺
勺sháo約yuē
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 約 uses 糸, a rope, for its meaning and 勺 for its sound; the simplified 约 is a later shorthand.

Open 约 →

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
羽羽yǔfeather
Sound part声符shēngfú
倝
倝gàn翰hàn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

翰 pairs 倝, which gives the sound, with 羽, which shows a feather.

Open 翰 →

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

  • 入入rùto enter
  • 冂冂jiōnghouse

The shape shows 入 entering into 冂, a house, so it pictures bringing something indoors, giving the sense inside.

Open 内 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 斯 →

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
土土tǔ
Sound part声符shēngfú
保
保bǎo堡bǔ
Same sound today

堡 pairs 土 (earth) with 保 (bǎo): 保 gives the sound, and 土 is the meaning part.

Open 堡 →
Appears in
City & Urban

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