洛

luò
noun #1,737

Meanings

  1. 1 Luo River
  2. 2 used in transliterations

Examples

HSK 4
Luòshānjī shì Měiguó zuì dà de chéngshì zhīyī.
Los Angeles is one of the largest cities in the US.
HSK 6
洛阳是中国的古都。
Luòyáng shì Zhōngguó de gǔdū.
Luoyang is an ancient capital of China.

Tips

usage
洛 appears most often in place names: 洛阳 (Luoyang), 洛杉矶 (Los Angeles), 洛克 (Locke/Rock). It is also a surname.

Components

radical
氵 shuǐ
water (left-side radical form of 水)
Left 氵 is the three-drops water radical - three abbreviated waves stacked vertically, the side-form of 水. Anchors 洛 in the river-name family: the original Luò River was a Yellow River tributary that ran past 洛阳, capital of multiple dynasties. Same radical family: 河, 江, 海, 湖.
phonetic
各 gè
each (here phonetic)
Right 各 supplies the sound - gè shifting to luò through Old Chinese velar-to-lateral drift, the same shift seen in 络 (web), 落 (fall), 路 (road). Pure phonetic loan; the 'each' meaning of 各 contributes nothing. The 各-phonetic family is one of the textbook clusters for the gè/luò/lù alternation.

Stroke Order

洛 luò