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纽约 (Niǔ Yuē) — New York (city)

Definition

noun
New York (city)

Examples

  • 纽约。
    Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù Niǔ Yuē lǚ yóu.
    I want to travel to New York next year.
  • 纽约。
    Niǔ Yuē Shì yí gè guó jì huà de dà chéng shì.
    New York is an international metropolis.
  • 纽约。
    Tā cóng xiǎo zài Niǔ Yuē zhǎng dà.
    He grew up in New York since childhood.

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.

纽niǔ
约yuē

纽 and 约 only spell the sound of New York; the characters 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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 紐; 纽 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糸糸mìsilk
Sound part声符shēngfú
丑
丑chǒu紐niǔ
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 紐 has 糸 (silk) for tying and 丑 for sound; 丑 also points to a claw or hand, fitting a handle. The simplified 纽 is a later shorthand.

Open 纽 →

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 →
Appears in
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