苏黎世 (Sū lí shì) — Zurich (largest city in Switzerland)

Definition

noun

Zurich (largest city in Switzerland)

苏黎世。
Míng nián chūn tiān wǒ dǎ suàn qù Sū lí shì lǚ xíng.
I plan to travel to Zurich next spring.
苏黎世，。
Sū lí shì Shì ruì shì zuì dà de chéng shì, yě shì quán qiú jīn róng zhōng xīn zhī yī.
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and one of the global financial centers.
苏黎世。
Cóng Sū lí shì jī chǎng kě yǐ zuò huǒ chē zhí dá shì zhōng xīn.
From Zurich Airport you can take a train directly to the city center.

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.

苏黎世 spells the foreign name Zurich; the characters only represent sounds.

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 蘇; 苏 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 苏 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words it is 蘇; in others it is 甦 or 囌.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艸艸cǎograss; plant

Sound part声符shēngfú

穌

穌sū蘇Sū

Same sound today

The traditional form 蘇 uses 艸 (grass; plant) for meaning and 穌 for sound; the simplified 苏 is a later shorthand.

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

黍黍shǔmillet

Sound part声符shēngfú

利

Same sound today

黎 pairs 黍, meaning millet, with 利 as its sound part; here the 黍 part is shortened.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in