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矿泉水 (kuàng quán shuǐ) — mineral water

Definition

noun
mineral water
Measure word · 瓶, 杯

Examples

  • 矿泉水。
    Wǒ yào mǎi yì píng kuàng quán shuǐ.
    I want to buy a bottle of mineral water.
  • 矿泉水。
    Zhè bēi kuàng quán shuǐ hěn lěng.
    This glass of mineral water is very cold.
  • 矿泉水。
    Tā xǐ huan hē kuàng quán shuǐ.
    He likes to drink mineral water.

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.

矿泉
矿kuàngmineral泉quánspring
偏正Modifier + head
水shuǐwater

'矿' and '泉' make a mineral spring, and '水' is the water from it.

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 礦; 矿 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
石石shístone
Sound part声符shēngfú
廣
廣guǎng礦kuàng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 礦 shows 石, meaning stone, beside 廣, which gives the sound. The simplified 矿 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the original parts.

Open 矿 →

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

泉 pairs 白 (spring mouth) with 水 (water) to show water flowing from the source of a spring.

Open 泉 →

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

水 is a simple drawing of water flowing.

Open 水 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 3HSK 2.0 Level 5Beverages

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