吃水 (chī shuǐ) — to drink water (often in the sense of having access to drinking water); (of a ship) to draw water, to have a draft; (of materials) to absorb water

Definition

吃水 (chī shuǐ) is a verb literally meaning 'to consume water', but it is mostly used in two technical/non-literal senses: a ship's draft (how deep it sits in the water) and a material's absorbency — not for people drinking water.

verb
to drink water (often in the sense of having access to drinking water)(of a ship) to draw waterto have a draft(of materials) to absorb water

Examples

  • 吃水，。
    Zhè ge cūn zi chī shuǐ hěn kùn nan, yào cóng hěn yuǎn de dì fāng yùn shuǐ.
    This village has difficulty getting drinking water; they have to transport water from far away.
  • 吃水，。
    Nà sōu dà chuán chī shuǐ shí mǐ, bù néng kāi jìn qiǎn shuǐ qū.
    That large ship draws ten meters of water and cannot enter shallow waters.
  • 。
    Zhè zhǒng hǎi mián chī le shuǐ yǐ hòu huì biàn de hěn zhòng.
    This type of sponge becomes very heavy after absorbing water.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

吃chīdrink
水shuǐwater

吃 gives drink, and 水 gives water.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
乞
乞qǐ吃chī
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

吃 combines 口 (mouth) with 乞, which gives the sound; it originally wrote a word meaning to stutter.

Open 吃 →

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 →

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