泥潭 (ní tán) — quagmire, muddy bog | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

泥潭 is a quagmire or muddy bog — a patch of deep, soft mud one sinks into. Used figuratively for a difficult situation hard to escape, like 淤泥 in its figurative sense, but 泥潭 emphasizes the place/bog itself.

noun

quagmiremuddy bog

Measure word · 个

Examples

，泥潭。
Bào yǔ guò hòu, zhè tiáo lù biàn chéng le yí gè ní tán.
After the rainstorm, this road turned into a quagmire.
泥潭，。
Gōng sī xiàn rù le cái wù ní tán, nán yǐ tuō shēn.
The company has fallen into a financial quagmire and can hardly extricate itself.
泥潭。
Bié bǎ jiǎn dān de wèn tí biàn chéng yí gè ní tán.
Don't turn a simple problem into a quagmire.

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.

泥 as mud and 潭 as deep pool form a muddy bog.

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.

氵尼泥

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

尼

尼ní泥nì

Same sound today

The left side is 氵, the water part; the right side is 尼, which gives the sound.

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

氵覃潭

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐ

Sound part声符shēngfú

覃

覃qín潭tán

Same sound today

潭 has 氵, the water part, and 覃, which gives its sound.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Geography & Landforms

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