锡兰 (xī lán) — Ceylon (former name of Sri Lanka)

Definition

noun
Ceylon (former name of Sri Lanka)

Examples

  • 锡兰。
    xī lán Shì sī lǐ lán kǎ de jiù míng.
    Ceylon was the former name of Sri Lanka.
  • 锡兰，。
    Wǒ yǐ qián qù guò xī lán, xiàn zài nà lǐ jiào sī lǐ lán kǎ.
    I've been to Ceylon before; now it's called Sri Lanka.
  • 锡兰。
    xī lán De hóng chá hěn yǒu míng.
    Ceylon black tea is very famous.

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.

锡xī
兰lán

锡 and 兰 here spell the foreign name Ceylon and do not carry separate meanings.

Sound-only characters

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 锡 →

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 蘭; 兰 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艹Written in full as艸cǎoplant
Sound part声符shēngfú
闌
闌lán蘭lán
Same sound today

In the traditional form 蘭, 艹 marks it as a plant and 闌 stands for the sound; the simplified 兰 is a later shorthand, not the original parts.

Open 兰 →

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