阿格拉 (ā gé lā) — Agra (city in India)

Definition

noun
Agra (city in India)

Examples

  • 阿格拉。
    Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù ā gé lā wán.
    I want to go to Agra next year.
  • 阿格拉。
    ā gé lā Yǒu shì jiè wén míng de tài jī líng.
    Agra has the world-famous Taj Mahal.
  • 阿格拉。
    Tā cóng ā gé lā huí lái le.
    He came back from Agra.

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
格gé
拉lā

阿格拉 spells the place name Agra; its 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
木木mùwood
Sound part声符shēngfú
各
各gè格gé
Same sound today

格 is built from 木 (wood) on the left and 各 on the right, which gives the sound.

Open 格 →

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.

Open 拉 →

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