盐水 (yán shuǐ) — salt water; brine | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

salt waterbrine

Examples

盐水。
Yān suān cài de shí hou yào yòng yán shuǐ pào yì tiān.
When pickling sour cabbage, you need to soak it in brine for a day.
盐水。
Yī shēng yòng yán shuǐ gěi wǒ chōng xǐ le shāng kǒu.
The doctor rinsed my wound with saline.
盐水，。
Zhǔ miàn tiáo shí shuǐ lǐ jiā diǎn yán shuǐ, miàn tiáo huì gèng jīn dào.
Adding a bit of salt water to the cooking noodles makes them chewier.

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.

盐 names salt, 水 names water; together they denote water holding salt, brine.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 鹽; 盐 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

鹵鹵lǔsalt

Sound part声符shēngfú

監

監jiān鹽yán

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

The traditional form 鹽 uses 鹵 to show salt and 監 for the sound; the simplified 盐 is a later shorthand.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

水 is a simple drawing of water flowing.

Appears in

Materials & Substances

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