里拉 (lǐ lā) — lira (currency) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

lira (currency)

Examples

里拉。
Tā yòng le èr bǎi lǐ lā mǎi le yí jiàn yī fu.
He spent 200 lira to buy a piece of clothing.
里拉。
Jīn tiān de huì lǜ shì yì měi yuán kě yǐ duì huàn shí wǔ lǐ lā.
Today's exchange rate is one dollar can be exchanged for 15 lira.
，里拉。
Qù yì dà lì lǚ yóu shí, wǒ huàn le wǔ bǎi lǐ lā de xiàn jīn.
When traveling to Italy, I changed 500 lira into cash.

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.

The characters 里 and 拉 only spell the foreign sound lira and carry no meaning of their own.

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.

衤里裡

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.

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

手手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

立

立lì拉lā

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

拉 pairs 手 (hand) with 立, a component that supplies the sound.

Appears in

Money & Currency

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