下降 (xià jiàng) — to decline, to drop, to fall, to decrease | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

下降 means a value, level, or rate drops on its own (temperature, price, profit). Unlike 减少 or 缩小, it doesn't imply anyone made it smaller — use it for natural or market-driven decline.

verb

to declineto dropto fallto decrease

Examples

下降。
Fēi jī kāi shǐ xià jiàng le.
The plane began to descend.
下降。
Zhè jǐ tiān wēn dù xià jiàng le hěn duō.
The temperature has dropped a lot these past few days.
下降。
Zhè ge yuè gōng sī de lì rùn xià jiàng le.
The company's profit declined this month.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

降jiàngdescend

下 and 降 both express going down, so the combined sense is decline.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

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

阝夅降

Meaning part形符xíngfú

阝Written in full as阜fùhill, wall

Sound part声符shēngfú

夅

夅jiàng降xiáng

Same sound today

降 pairs 阝 (a hill or wall, written in full as 阜) with 夅, a sound part meaning 'to descend'; together they picture descending a hill.

Appears in

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