希腊
xīlà
希腊 (xīlà) is the Chinese word for Greece.
希腊 is the name of the country located in Southeastern Europe.
Meaning: country in Southeastern Europe (name)
How does it change in a sentence?
To refer to a Greek person or Greek people, you can add the suffix 人 (rén) to 希腊 to form 希腊人.
How do you pronounce it?
xīlà
Did you know?
- Because the character 腊 is also used in the word for 'cured meat' 腊肉, students often find the visual combination of 希腊 unexpected.
- The name 希腊 is a phonetic transliteration of the word 'Hellas', the endonym used by Greek people to describe their own country.
- Because the name 希腊 is a transliteration, it does not possess an inherent meaning in Chinese like many other country names do.
Examples in context
- 希腊是个古老的国家。Greece is an old country.The sentence uses 希腊 to describe Greece as an old country.Tatoeba #7012159 by basilhan, translation #3935488 by CM
- 希腊是个美丽的国家。Greece is a beautiful country.The sentence uses 希腊 to describe Greece as a beautiful country.Tatoeba #2521478 by europeanlanguages, translation #6157216 by amoeba
- 我想去希腊旅游。Wǒ xiǎng qù Xīlà lǚyóu.I want to travel to Greece.
Example conversation
Two friends are discussing their future travel plans.
- 俊杰 Junjie晓雯，你以后想去哪儿？Xiǎowén, nǐ yǐhòu xiǎng qù nǎ'er?Xiaowen, where do you want to go in the future?
- 晓雯 Xiaowen我想去希腊看看。Wǒ xiǎng qù Xīlà kànkan.I want to go see Greece.
- 俊杰 Junjie希腊真的很漂亮。Xīlà zhēn de hěn piàoliang.Greece is truly beautiful.
- 晓雯 Xiaowen是的，我也这么觉得。Shì de, wǒ yě zhème juéde.Yes, I think so too.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
