河里 (hé lǐ) — in the river | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

in the river

Examples

河里。
Yú zài hé lǐ yóu lái yóu qù.
Fish are swimming back and forth in the river.
河里。
Tā zài hé lǐ diào le yì tiáo dà yú.
He caught a big fish in the river.
河里，。
hé lǐ De shuǐ hěn liáng, wǒ men bù gǎn xià qù.
The water in the river is very cold, so we dare not go down.

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.

里lǐinside

河 gives river, 里 gives inside, so 河里 means in the 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.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 裡; 里 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 里 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (里, 里面) it is 裡; in others (公里) it is 里 or 裏.

衤里裡

Meaning part形符xíngfú

衤Written in full as衣yīclothes

Sound part声符shēngfú

里

里lǐ裡lǐ

Same sound today

The form 裡 pairs 衤 (clothes) with 里 as a sound component.

Appears in

Geography & Landforms

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