三亞

See also: 三亚

Chinese

		three	second; inferior; Asia
trad. (三亞)		三	亞
simp. (三亚)		三	亚

Etymology

First attested in 1521 in 正德瓊台志.

Wang (2014) suggests that 三亞 is borrowed from a Hlai word meaning "field with crows".

• 三 (Hainanese /ta¹/) is borrowed from Hlai dax (“field; farmland”) (Heitu dialect: /naː²/).
• 亞／亚 (Hainanese /a¹/) is likely borrowed from Hlai eek (“crow”) (Heitu dialect: /ʔaːʔ⁹/).

Note that toponyms with 三 as the first character are common in southern Hainan where the Hlai (Li) people live.

Originally referring to the area around Sanya Harbor (三亞港), it replaced 崖縣／崖县 (Yáxiàn, “Ya County”) in 1984 to refer to the entire prefecture-level city.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Sānyà, Sānyǎ

  (Zhuyin): ㄙㄢ ㄧㄚˋ, ㄙㄢ ㄧㄚˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): saam¹ aa³

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, standard in Mainland and Taiwan)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Sānyà
    • Zhuyin: ㄙㄢ ㄧㄚˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Sanyà
    • Wade–Giles: San¹-ya⁴
    • Yale: Sān-yà
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Sanyah
    • Palladius: Санья (Sanʹja)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sän⁵⁵ jä⁵¹/
      
  • (Standard Chinese, common variant)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Sānyǎ
    • Zhuyin: ㄙㄢ ㄧㄚˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Sanyǎ
    • Wade–Giles: San¹-ya³
    • Yale: Sān-yǎ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Sanyea
    • Palladius: Санья (Sanʹja)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sän⁵⁵ jä²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: saam¹ aa³
    • Yale: sāam a
    • Cantonese Pinyin: saam¹ aa³
    • Guangdong Romanization: sam¹ a³
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /saːm⁵⁵ aː³³/

Proper noun

三亞

1. (～市) Sanya (a prefecture-level city in Hainan, China)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (三亞):

• → Vietnamese: Tam Á (三亞)

other

• → English: Sanya