大海 (dà hǎi) — open sea | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

open sea

Measure word · 片

大海。
Wǒ xǐ huan kàn dà hǎi.
I like to look at the open sea.
大海。
Wǒ men zuò chuán qù dà hǎi.
We take a boat to the open sea.
大海，。
Kàn dào dà hǎi, wǒ de xīn qíng hěn hǎo.
Seeing the open sea, my mood is very good.

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.

大海 joins 大 (big) and 海 (sea) to mean the open sea.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

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

氵每海

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

每

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

海 pairs 氵 (water) with 每, which gives the sound. The 氵 side shows it is about water.

Appears in