暴雨 (bào yǔ) — torrential rain; rainstorm

Definition

暴雨 is an intense, sustained rainstorm — much heavier than the brief 阵雨 shower. It is counted with 场 or 阵 and can describe a whole rainy event.

noun

torrential rainrainstorm

Measure word · 场, 阵

暴雨。
Zuó wǎn de bào yǔ xià le yì zhěng yè.
Last night's rainstorm lasted the whole night.
暴雨，。
Zhè chǎng bào yǔ zhī hòu, jiē shàng dōu shì shuǐ.
After this rainstorm, the streets were all flooded.
暴雨。
bào yǔ Tiān chū mén yào dài sǎn.
You should bring an umbrella when going out on a rainstorm day.

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.

暴 “violent” plus 雨 “rain”: rain that falls violently.

Characters in this word

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

The earliest form paired 虎 and 戈, a tiger and a weapon. The later 暴 came from a picture of hands drying something in the sun.

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

The shape 雨 is an old picture of a cloud with rain drops falling from it; the top line was added later.

Appears in