<p>Because radicals indicate the meaning of the character. For example, 銅鑼 literally means bronze (銅) gong (鑼). Both are phono-semantic compounds and metal-related – the 金 radical on the left side, and their pronunciation on the right side. The name 銅鑼灣 came from the shape of the bay, which is like a gong. You cannot remove any radicals, otherwise the entire meaning of the word would be unclear.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-30T02:08:27.203Z
Harry, your answer is the most logical so I've accepted it as the correct one. However, I'd like to learn more about phono-semantic compounds. Since these words - bronze(銅)  and gong(鑼) are created by adding the radical 金 to the right-half of the characters, does this mean there are infinite possibilities of these characters. I mean, just by adding a radical to a character, I can create a new proper character? By the way,  while you say 銅鑼灣 is meaning bell-shaped bay, the official English name is 'Causeway Bay'. Any idea if this has any relation to the chinese meaning?
udidosa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-30T05:51:33.067Z
@Urvil Theoretically, you can do any combination with the phonetic part and the semantic part -- that's how these word came into being thousands of years ago. And along the history, new character are made continually with rules like phono-semantic compunding. However, in reality, there are no such huge amount of concepts that run out of all combinations. And only a few are proper ones, with common understanding and a stable meaning, and displayable on PC. Language is just such a thing that people all agree on. So you can create new, but your creation may not be accepted by others.
Harry Summer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-30T06:09:32.377Z
@Urvil Most English place names in Hong Kong are consistent with Chinese ones, either in pronounciation, or meaning. However, Causeway Bay is an exception, I guess it's because both version of its names were developed long time ago, so that they all reach a large mount of acceptance and understanding in English and Chinese-speaking community respectively. So the tradition lasts till today.
Harry Summer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-03T13:24:58.840Z
@HarrySummer Causeway Bay is not the only exception. Admiralty (Station) and Stanley are some other examples. Even locals are confused about the naming. And if you count the streets and roads in, it's even worse.
KH.Lee
CC BY-SA 4.0
2017-06-29T14:25:23.533Z
2021-04-04T00:50:18.997Z
2021-04-04T00:50:18.997Z
Harry Summer
<p>This is just my guess: In the beginning, a word with double consonant has no written form, and people borrow (假借) two characters for that, giving both the same radical (部首) in accordance of its category of meaning.</p>

<p>See: <a href="https://www.zhihu.com/question/32244647" rel="nofollow noreferrer">窟窿和孔是古汉语里一个词的两个不同写法吗？</a> (If you cannot read much Chinese, I will try to find some other resource in English for you.)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-29T11:40:05.517Z
2017-06-29T11:40:05.517Z
Violapterin
<p>Why do several mtr stations' chinese names (traditional chinese) contain characters with repeated radicals? These characters do not really form an english word but individually have a meaning, so I wonder the reason. My question may become clearer when  I provide the examples below:</p>

<p>銅鑼</p>

<p>金鐘</p>

<p>葵芳</p>

<p>筲箕(灣)</p>

<p>石硤(尾)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-28T09:38:10.217Z
銅鑼,金鐘,筲箕(灣),石硤(尾) are geographical (proper) names,
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-28T12:48:07.063Z
cf。Yip Po-Ching, CL, agglutinated juxtaposition, 连绵词，２ mononyms share identical element, usually radical, partially homographetic motivation behind word plays just as important a role as word's characteristic disyllabicity, e.g. 玻璃、鸶鹭、蟋蟀、蝴蝶、蝌蚪、鹦鹉、骐麟、骐骥、骷髅、傀儡、狐狸、玫瑰、磨菇、葡萄、蓓蕾、桠杈（丫杈）、饕餮、many more at http://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%BF%9E%E7%BB%B5%E8%AF%8D
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-29T14:11:56.503Z
To be honest, the question doesn't have any relationship with 连绵词.
Harry Summer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-29T15:43:21.843Z
also ＂磨菇＂represents a serious error, it seems user should have typed "蘑菇"
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-30T01:59:52.470Z
@user6065 Thanks I kind of understand what you are getting at but could you elaborate further? That webiste is in chinese which I cannot read
udidosa
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-30T03:45:00.937Z
answer:proper names are words in fact nouns, so if there still is a question, it would seem to be asking for a reason why some geographic names consist of 2 characters with the same radical, which may depend on the particular case, however the abundance of agglutinated juxtaposition in the general vocabulary (evidenced by 连绵词) seems to show a preference for such (in the same vein, although there are 科斗,蝌斗,丫杈, 蝌蚪,桠杈 may be preferred for aesthetic,mnemonic or other reasons
user6065
<radicals><hong-kong>
Radical repetition in MTR station names
# Radical repetition in MTR station names

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-06-28)

Why do several mtr stations' chinese names (traditional chinese) contain characters with repeated radicals? These characters do not really form an english word but individually have a meaning, so I wonder the reason. My question may become clearer when I provide the examples below:

銅鑼

金鐘

葵芳

筲箕(灣)

石硤(尾)

**Tags:** radicals, hong-kong

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 銅鑼,金鐘,筲箕(灣),石硤(尾) are geographical (proper) names,  
> **username_1**: cf。Yip Po-Ching, CL, agglutinated juxtaposition, 连绵词，２ mononyms share identical element, usually radical, partially homographetic motivation behind word plays just as important a role as word's characteristic disyllabicity, e.g. 玻璃、鸶鹭、蟋蟀、蝴蝶、蝌蚪、鹦鹉、骐麟、骐骥、骷髅、傀儡、狐狸、玫瑰、磨菇、葡萄、蓓蕾、桠杈（丫杈）、饕餮、many more at http://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%BF%9E%E7%BB%B5%E8%AF%8D  
> **username_2**: To be honest, the question doesn't have any relationship with 连绵词.  
> **username_1**: also ＂磨菇＂represents a serious error, it seems user should have typed "蘑菇"  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Thanks I kind of understand what you are getting at but could you elaborate further? That webiste is in chinese which I cannot read  
> **username_1**: answer:proper names are words in fact nouns, so if there still is a question, it would seem to be asking for a reason why some geographic names consist of 2 characters with the same radical, which may depend on the particular case, however the abundance of agglutinated juxtaposition in the general vocabulary (evidenced by 连绵词) seems to show a preference for such (in the same vein, although there are 科斗,蝌斗,丫杈, 蝌蚪,桠杈 may be preferred for aesthetic,mnemonic or other reasons  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-06-29. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Because radicals indicate the meaning of the character. For example, 銅鑼 literally means bronze (銅) gong (鑼). Both are phono-semantic compounds and metal-related – the 金 radical on the left side, and their pronunciation on the right side. The name 銅鑼灣 came from the shape of the bay, which is like a gong. You cannot remove any radicals, otherwise the entire meaning of the word would be unclear.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: username_2, your answer is the most logical so I've accepted it as the correct one. However, I'd like to learn more about phono-semantic compounds. Since these words - bronze(銅)  and gong(鑼) are created by adding the radical 金 to the right-half of the characters, does this mean there are infinite possibilities of these characters. I mean, just by adding a radical to a character, I can create a new proper character? By the way,  while you say 銅鑼灣 is meaning bell-shaped bay, the official English name is 'Causeway Bay'. Any idea if this has any relation to the chinese meaning?  
> **username_2**: @Urvil Theoretically, you can do any combination with the phonetic part and the semantic part -- that's how these word came into being thousands of years ago. And along the history, new character are made continually with rules like phono-semantic compunding. However, in reality, there are no such huge amount of concepts that run out of all combinations. And only a few are proper ones, with common understanding and a stable meaning, and displayable on PC. Language is just such a thing that people all agree on. So you can create new, but your creation may not be accepted by others.  
> **username_2**: @Urvil Most English place names in Hong Kong are consistent with Chinese ones, either in pronounciation, or meaning. However, Causeway Bay is an exception, I guess it's because both version of its names were developed long time ago, so that they all reach a large mount of acceptance and understanding in English and Chinese-speaking community respectively. So the tradition lasts till today.  
> **username_3**: @username_2 Causeway Bay is not the only exception. Admiralty (Station) and Stanley are some other examples. Even locals are confused about the naming. And if you count the streets and roads in, it's even worse.  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2017-06-29. Score: 0

This is just my guess: In the beginning, a word with double consonant has no written form, and people borrow (假借) two characters for that, giving both the same radical (部首) in accordance of its category of meaning.

See: [窟窿和孔是古汉语里一个词的两个不同写法吗？](https://www.zhihu.com/question/32244647) (If you cannot read much Chinese, I will try to find some other resource in English for you.)


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