大潮 (dà cháo) — spring tide (the extreme tidal range during new/full moon); (figurative) great tide, powerful trend (of social change, historical movements, etc.)

Definition

Literally 'spring tide' — the extreme high/low tides around the new and full moon. Figuratively, a powerful social or historical movement (e.g., 改革开放的大潮).

noun
spring tide (the extreme tidal range during new/full moon)(figurative) great tidepowerful trend (of social change, historical movements, etc.)

Examples

  • 大潮。
    Měi yuè nóng lì chū yī hé shí wǔ qián hòu huì chū xiàn dà cháo.
    Spring tides occur around the first and fifteenth of each lunar month.
  • 大潮。
    Gǎi gé kāi fàng de dà cháo tuī dòng le zhěng gè shè huì de jìn bù.
    The great tide of reform and opening-up propelled the progress of the entire society.
  • 大潮。
    Yán hǎi chéng shì xū yào fáng fàn dà cháo dài lái de zāi hài.
    Coastal cities need to guard against the disasters brought by spring tides.

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.

大dàbig
潮cháotide

大 describes the size of 潮, tide, giving a big tide or powerful trend.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
朝
朝cháo潮cháo
Same sound today

潮 has 氵, the water form 水, on the left to show a water connection, with 朝 on the right giving the sound.

Open 潮 →

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