雅加达 (Yǎ jiā dá) — Jakarta

Definition

noun
Jakarta

Examples

  • 雅加达。
    Míng nián wǒ jì huà qù Yǎ jiā dá lǚ xíng.
    I plan to travel to Jakarta next year.
  • 雅加达。
    Yǎ jiā dá Shì yìn dù ní xī yà de shǒu dū.
    Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia.
  • 雅加达。
    Tā cóng Yǎ jiā dá gěi wǒ dài le yì xiē jì niàn pǐn.
    He brought me some souvenirs from Jakarta.

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.

雅yǎ
加jiā
达dá

The characters 雅加达 carry no meaning of their own here and spell a foreign name.

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
隹隹zhuīa short-tailed bird
Sound part声符shēngfú
牙
牙yá雅yǎ
Same sound today

雅 pairs 隹, a short-tailed bird, with 牙 as its sound part; the bird was a rook/crow, and the sense was extended to refined.

Open 雅 →

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

加 pairs 力 and 口. In one explanation 力 is strength and 口 is the mouth, meaning exaggeration; in another 力 is plowing effort and 口 is breath or exclamation, meaning extra effort.

Open 加 →

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
辶Written in full as辵chuò
Sound part声符shēngfú
大
大dà达dá
Same sound today

This form 达 pairs 辶 (written in full as 辵) with 大 as a sound component.

Open 达 →

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