伯斯 (Bósī): Perth (capital of Western Austr…

Meanings

1 Perth (capital of Western Australia; Taiwan/HK rendering)
2 Perth (city in Scotland)

Characters

伯

bó

elder uncle (phonetic 'bo')

斯

sī

this (phonetic 'si')

Examples

伯斯是西澳大利亚的首府。

Bósī shì Xī'àodàlìyà de shǒufǔ.

Perth is the capital of Western Australia.

我表姐去伯斯留学了。

Wǒ biǎojiě qù Bósī liúxué le.

My cousin went to study in Perth.

Tips

culture

伯斯 is the Taiwan/Hong Kong transliteration of 'Perth.' Mainland Chinese press almost always uses 珀斯 (Pòsī) instead — same city, different first character (珀 'amber'). Originally a Scottish town, but in Chinese 伯斯/珀斯 most often refers to the Australian Perth, which is the largest city of Western Australia.

memory

伯 'eldest uncle' (phonetic 'bo') + 斯 'this' (phonetic 'si'). The 斯 is one of the most common phonetic characters used to spell foreign 's' sounds in transliterations: 俄罗斯 (Russia), 莫斯科 (Moscow), 法兰西斯 (Francis).