寒流 (hán liú) — cold snap; cold wave (weather); cold current (oceanography)

Definition

A meteorological term for a sharp drop in temperature (a 'cold snap'), and in oceanography a cold ocean current flowing from the poles toward the equator.

noun
cold snapcold wave (weather)cold current (oceanography)
Measure word · 股

Examples

  • 寒流，。
    hán liú Lái le, míng tiān huì tè bié lěng.
    A cold snap is coming; tomorrow will be especially cold.
  • 寒流。
    Zhè gǔ hán liú cóng běi jí xiàng nán liú dòng.
    This cold current flows southward from the Arctic.
  • 寒流。
    Jīn nián dōng tiān yǐ jīng chū xiàn le liǎng cì hán liú.
    There have already been two cold snaps this winter.

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.

寒háncold
流liúcurrent

寒 gives cold, 流 gives current, so the word means a cold current.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 宀宀miánhouse
  • 人人rénperson
  • 茻茻mǎnggrass

寒 shows 宀 (house), 人 (person), and 茻 (grass): a person sleeping in grass inside a house to keep out the cold.

Open 寒 →

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.

Open 流 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.