河谷 (hé gǔ) — river valley | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

river valley

Measure word · 个

Examples

河谷。
Zhè ge hé gǔ fēi cháng měi lì.
This river valley is very beautiful.
河谷。
hé gǔ De liǎng biān dōu shì gāo shān.
Both sides of the river valley are high mountains.
河谷。
Tā men zài hé gǔ lǐ zǒu le sān gè xiǎo shí.
They walked in the river valley for three hours.

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.

谷gǔvalley

河谷 joins 河 (river) and 谷 (valley), the land shaped by a river.

Characters in this word

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

何

何hé河hé

Same sound today

河 pairs 水 (water) with 何, which gives the sound. The 水 part marks it as a word for a river.

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

The shape of 谷 comes from a picture of a valley: an opening between two near-parallel lines for mountain walls.

Appears in

Geography & Landforms

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