马里兰 (Mǎ lǐ lán) — Maryland (US state)

Definition

noun
Maryland (US state)

Examples

  • 马里兰。
    Mǎ lǐ lán Wèi yú měi guó dōng hǎi àn.
    Maryland is located on the East Coast of the United States.
  • 马里兰。
    Wǒ míng nián xiǎng qù Mǎ lǐ lán lǚ yóu.
    I want to travel to Maryland next year.
  • 马里兰。
    Tā de dà xué zài Mǎ lǐ lán.
    Her university is in Maryland.

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.

马mǎ
里lǐ
兰lán

马, 里, 兰 only spell Maryland and carry no meaning here.

Sound-only characters

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 馬; 马 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 馬 shows a horse with its head facing left, a flowing mane, and two legs standing vertically.

Open 马 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 裡; 里 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 里 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (里, 里面) it is 裡; in others (公里) it is 里 or 裏.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
衤Written in full as衣yīclothes
Sound part声符shēngfú
里
里lǐ裡lǐ
Same sound today

The form 裡 pairs 衤 (clothes) with 里 as a sound component.

Open 里 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 蘭; 兰 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艹Written in full as艸cǎoplant
Sound part声符shēngfú
闌
闌lán蘭lán
Same sound today

In the traditional form 蘭, 艹 marks it as a plant and 闌 stands for the sound; the simplified 兰 is a later shorthand, not the original parts.

Open 兰 →

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