proper noun; specific name
Meanings
2 senses · 8 examplesnoun
proper noun; specific name for people, places, or organizations
technicalAbbreviation of 专有名词. Used in linguistics and grammar to refer to names of specific entities as opposed to common nouns.
"Lu Xun" is an important proper noun in modern Chinese literature.
The proper noun "Peking University" enjoys worldwide reputation.
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When studying linguistics, we need to distinguish between proper nouns and common nouns.
"Huai River" is a geographical proper noun.
noun
specific component of a proper noun indicating the individual entity (as opposed to the generic classifier)
technicalIn toponymy and linguistics, the 'specific' element that distinguishes a particular entity from others in the same category. For example, in 'Huai River' (淮河), 'Huai' (淮) is the 专名 and 'River' (河) is the 通名 (generic name).
In the proper noun "Huai River," "Huai" is the specific name (专名) and "River" is the generic name (通名).
In "Changbai Mountain," "Changbai" is the specific name component and "Mountain" is the generic name.
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Onomastics is the study of specific names and generic names.
In place name research, distinguishing between specific names and generic names helps understand the structure of toponyms.