自由泳 (zì yóu yǒng) — freestyle swimming; the crawl

Definition

noun

freestyle swimmingthe crawl

自由泳。
Tā zì yóu yǒng yóu dé hěn kuài.
He swims freestyle very fast.
自由泳。
Zhè cì bǐ sài yǒu wǔ shí mǐ zì yóu yǒng xiàng mù.
This competition has a 50-meter freestyle event.
自由泳。
Jiào liàn jiào wǒ men rú hé yóu zì yóu yǒng.
The coach taught us how to swim the freestyle.

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.

自由freestyle

主谓Subject + predicate

自由, 'freestyle', specifies the kind of 泳, 'swimming'.

Characters in this word

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

自 originally drew a nose. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write 自, so the picture and the meaning are unrelated.

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

It began as a drawing of new shoots or leaves growing upward from a plant-like base.

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

氵永泳

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐ

Sound part声符shēngfú

永

Same sound today

泳 pairs 氵 (water) with 永, which gives the sound. The water part fits the meaning of swimming.