滂沱 (pāng tuó) — torrential (of rain); streaming copiously (of t…

Definition

Literary/formal word for torrential rain or tears flowing copiously. Almost always used in set phrases like 大雨滂沱 and 泪如滂沱, not on its own.

verb

torrential (of rain)streaming copiously (of tears)

滂沱，。
Wài miàn xià zhe pāng tuó dà yǔ, wǒ men méi fǎ chū mén.
It's raining torrentially outside; we can't go out.
，滂沱。
Tā tīng dào zhè ge è hào, bù jīn lèi rú pāng tuó.
When he heard the bad news, he couldn't stop his tears from streaming down.
滂沱，。
pāng tuó De bào yǔ chí xù le yì zhěng yè, jiē shàng quán shì jī shuǐ.
The torrential rain lasted the whole night, and the streets were flooded.

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

滂pāng

滂 and 沱 carry no meaning on their own here; together they describe rain or tears pouring down.

Sound-only characters

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

旁

Same sound today

滂 combines 水 (water) with 旁, which gives the sound. The water part connects to its meaning of a large amount of water.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

它

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

沱 is made from 水 (water) and 它, which supplies the sound.