油灰 (yóu huī) — putty

Definition

noun
putty
Easily confused

Examples

  • 油灰。
    Zhuāng xiū shī fu yòng yóu huī bǎ qiáng shàng de dòng bǔ hǎo le.
    The renovation worker repaired the hole in the wall with putty.
  • 油灰，。
    Zhè zhǒng yóu huī gān dé hěn kuài, nǐ yào kuài diǎn yòng.
    This type of putty dries quickly, you need to use it fast.
  • 油灰。
    Shāng diàn lǐ mài de gè zhǒng yóu huī zhì liàng bù yí yàng.
    The various putties sold in stores have different quality.

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.

油yóuoil
灰huīlime

油 means oil and 灰 means lime, so together they name the oil-and-lime putty.

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
由
由yóu油yóu
Same sound today

油 is built from 氵, a water part, and 由, which supplies the sound.

Open 油 →

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

灰 shows 火 (fire) that can be touched by 又 (hand), meaning ash.

Open 灰 →

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