美洲
Měizhōu
In Chinese, America (referring to the landmass of the Western Hemisphere) is said as 美洲 (Měizhōu).
美洲 refers to the landmass of the Western Hemisphere, which includes both North and South America.
What does it mean word for word?
The term is composed of 美 (měi), meaning 'beautiful' and 洲 (zhōu), meaning 'continent'.
Which one should you use?
While 美洲 (Měizhōu) refers to the entire landmass of the Americas, 美国 (Měiguó) is the specific term used for the United States of America.
How do you pronounce it?
Měizhōu
Did you know?
- In colloquial speech, people often use 美 as a shorthand prefix for anything related to the US, such as 美金 (Měijīn) for 'US dollars'.
- While 美洲 refers to the continent, the United States is called 美国 (Měiguó), which literally translates to 'Beautiful Country'.
- Chinese separates the Americas into 北美洲 (Běiměizhōu) for North America and 南美洲 (Nánměizhōu) for South America by simply adding the characters for 'North' and 'South'.
Examples in context
- 她生在美洲。She was born in America.This sentence is useful for stating where someone was born using 美洲.Tatoeba #7771873 by jiangche, translation #1422501 by CK
- Tom的父母住在南美洲。Tom's parents live in South America.This sentence is useful for describing a location in South America using 美洲.Tatoeba #5452171 by egg0073, translation #5451909 by CN
- 美洲很大。America is very large.This sentence is useful for describing the size of America using 美洲.Tatoeba #4262233 by notabene, translation #67543 by CK
- 我想去美国旅游。I want to travel to America.
- 他讨厌美帝的政策。He dislikes American imperialist policies.
- 12 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two students are talking about a geography class in a library.
- 梓涵 Zihan美洲有哪些国家？Měizhōu yǒu nǎxiē guójiā?Which countries are in the Americas?
- 浩然 Haoran美洲包含很多不同的文化。Měizhōu bāohán hěnduō bùtóng de wénhuà.The Americas include many different cultures.
- 梓涵 Zihan浩然，你觉得美洲很大吗？Hàorán, nǐ juéde Měizhōu hěn dà ma?Haoran, do you think the Americas are large?
- 浩然 Haoran是的，美洲的面积非常广阔。Shì de, Měizhōu de miànjī fēicháng guǎngkuò.Yes, the area of the Americas is very vast.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
