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达卡 (Dá kǎ) — Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh; Dakar, capital of Senegal (used in Taiwan)

Definition

noun
Dhakacapital of BangladeshDakarcapital of Senegal (used in Taiwan)

Examples

  • 达卡。
    Dá kǎ Shì mèng jiā lā guó de shǒu dū.
    Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh.
  • 达卡。
    Sài nèi jiā ěr de shǒu dū shì Dá kǎ.
    The capital of Senegal is Dakar.
  • 达卡。
    Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù Dá kǎ lǚ yóu.
    I want to travel to Dhaka next year.

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.

达dá
卡kǎ

The characters only spell the foreign name Dhaka/Dakar and carry no independent 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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
辶Written in full as辵chuò
Sound part声符shēngfú
大
大dà达dá
Same sound today

This form 达 pairs 辶 (written in full as 辵) with 大 as a sound component.

Open 达 →

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

卡 is made from 上 (up) and 下 (down), with their horizontal lines fused, showing something squeezed between above and below.

Open 卡 →
Appears in
City & Urban

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