阿根廷 (A gēn tíng) — Argentina

Definition

noun
Argentina

Examples

  • 阿根廷。
    Wǒ cóng lái méi yǒu qù guò A gēn tíng.
    I have never been to Argentina.
  • 阿根廷。
    A gēn tíng De zú qiú wén huà fēi cháng fēng fù.
    Argentina's soccer culture is very rich.
  • 阿根廷。
    Wǒ zài shì jiè dì tú shàng zhǎo dào le A gēn tíng.
    I found Argentina on the world map.

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
根gēn
廷tíng

The characters 阿根廷 spell the foreign name Argentina; individually they do not name the country.

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
木木mù
Sound part声符shēngfú
艮
艮gèn根gēn(r)
Same sound today

根 pairs 木 (tree/wood), pointing to plant roots, with 艮 as a sound part.

Open 根 →

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
廴廴yǐn
Sound part声符shēngfú
𡈼
𡈼𡈼廷tíng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

廷 is built from 廴, a meaning part, and 𡈼, a sound part.

Open 廷 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.