(hóng) — (bound form) flood (as in 洪水, 洪灾); (bound form) vast; immense (as in 洪亮, 洪福)

Definition

洪 (hóng) is a bound morpheme — it almost never stands alone, instead attaching to another character to form nouns (洪水 flood, 洪灾 flood disaster) or adjectives (洪亮 resonant, 洪福 great fortune). The core image is overwhelming water or magnitude.

bound form
flood (as in 洪水, 洪灾)vastimmense (as in 洪亮, 洪福)

Examples

  • Qù nián xià tiān, yì chǎng hóng shuǐ xí jī le nán fāng dì qū.
    Last summer, a flood hit the southern region.
  • Tā de shēng yīn hóng liàng ér yǒu lì, xī yǐn le suǒ yǒu rén de zhù yì.
    His voice was sonorous and powerful, attracting everyone's attention.
  • Zhèng fǔ bō kuǎn yòng yú hóng zāi hòu de chóng jiàn gōng zuò.
    The government allocated funds for reconstruction after the flood disaster.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

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
shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
gònghóng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

洪 is built from 水 (water) and 共 (gòng), with 共 giving the sound.

Appears in

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