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阿富汗 (A fù hàn) — Afghanistan

Definition

noun
Afghanistan

Examples

  • 阿富汗。
    A fù hàn Shì yí gè yà zhōu guó jiā.
    Afghanistan is an Asian country.
  • 阿富汗。
    Tā céng jīng zài A fù hàn gōng zuò guò liǎng nián.
    He once worked in Afghanistan for two years.
  • 阿富汗。
    A fù hàn De lì shǐ fēi cháng yōu jiǔ.
    Afghanistan has a very long history.

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.

阿ā
富fù
汗hàn

阿富汗 spells the foreign name; the characters carry no meaning of their own 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
阜阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
可
可kě阿ā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The part 阜 points to a mound, and 可 gives the pronunciation; 阿 originally meant a big mound.

Open 阿 →

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
宀宀mián
Sound part声符shēngfú
畐
畐fú富fù
Same sound today

富 pairs 宀, a roof-shaped part, with 畐, which gives the sound fú.

Open 富 →

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
水水shuǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
干
干gān汗hàn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

汗 has 水, the water form, beside 干; 水 relates to liquid sweat, while 干 gives the sound.

Open 汗 →
Appears in
International & Diplomacy

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