人流 (rén liú) — stream of people; flow of people | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Refers to the movement or flow of people through a space (a street, station, mall). Often used in public-safety or crowd-management contexts (e.g. 人流密集).

noun

stream of peopleflow of people

Measure word · 股

Examples

人流。
Chē zhàn de rén liú fēi cháng yōng jǐ.
The stream of people at the station is very crowded.
人流，。
Shāng chǎng lǐ rén liú bú duàn, hěn rè nao.
There is a constant stream of people in the mall; it's very lively.
，人流。
Wèi le ān quán, bì xū kòng zhì rén liú.
For safety, we must control the flow of people.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

人 (people) and 流 (flow) combine to picture a stream of people.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

水水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

㐬

㐬㐬流liú

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

流 has 水, water, and 㐬, which gives the sound. The water part matches meanings such as flow.

Appears in

People (General)Society & Public Life

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