阿尔及利亚 (A ěr jí lì yà) — Algeria

Definition

noun
Algeria

Examples

  • 阿尔及利亚。
    A ěr jí lì yà Shì fēi zhōu běi bù de yí gè guó jiā.
    Algeria is a country in North Africa.
  • 阿尔及利亚。
    Qù nián xià tiān wǒ qù A ěr jí lì yà lǚ xíng le yí gè yuè.
    Last summer I traveled to Algeria for a month.
  • 阿尔及利亚。
    A ěr jí lì yà De shǒu dū shì ā ěr jí ěr.
    The capital of Algeria is Algiers.

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
尔ěr
及jí
利lì
亚yà

阿尔及利亚 spells the foreign name Algeria; 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 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 爾; 尔 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 爾, simplified as 尔, originally drew cloth on a loom with crossing threads. It was borrowed for its sound to write “you,” so the picture is unrelated to that meaning.

Open 尔 →

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

及 pairs 人 (person) with 又 (hand), showing a hand grabbing a person.

Open 及 →

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

利 combines 禾 (grain) and 刀 (knife), showing a knife used to cut grain.

Open 利 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 亞; 亚 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 亞 likely shows an overhead view of a construction, perhaps a 亞-shaped tomb. Its later simplified form 亚 is just a shorthand.

Open 亚 →

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