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里加 (Lǐ jiā) — Riga (capital of Latvia)

Definition

noun
Riga (capital of Latvia)

Examples

  • 里加。
    Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù Lǐ jiā lǚ xíng.
    I want to travel to Riga next year.
  • 里加。
    Lǐ jiā Shì yí gè hěn měi dì chéng shì.
    Riga is a very beautiful city.
  • 里加。
    Tā zài Lǐ jiā zhù le wǔ nián.
    He lived in Riga for five years.

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.

里lǐ
加jiā

里加 spells the foreign name Riga; the characters carry no meaning 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 裡; 里 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 里 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (里, 里面) it is 裡; in others (公里) it is 里 or 裏.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
衤Written in full as衣yīclothes
Sound part声符shēngfú
里
里lǐ裡lǐ
Same sound today

The form 裡 pairs 衤 (clothes) with 里 as a sound component.

Open 里 →

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

加 pairs 力 and 口. In one explanation 力 is strength and 口 is the mouth, meaning exaggeration; in another 力 is plowing effort and 口 is breath or exclamation, meaning extra effort.

Open 加 →
Appears in
Business & Commerce

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