干燥 (gān zào) — dry; arid (lacking moistureless; (of speech, wr… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Covers both senses of 'dry': physical lack of moisture (skin, air, climate) and a dull, uninteresting style (writing, content). For the 'dry/boring' sense, it's weaker than 枯燥 and more factual than 没意思.

adjective

dryarid (lacking moistureless(of speech, writing) dryuninteresting

Examples

干燥，。
Zhè ge dì qū de kōng qì fēi cháng gān zào, yào zhù yì bǎo shī.
The air in this region is very dry; you need to keep your skin moisturized.
干燥。
Wǒ de pí fū yí dào dōng tiān jiù biàn de hěn gān zào.
My skin gets very dry as soon as winter comes.
干燥，。
Nà běn xiǎo shuō nèi róng gān zào, wǒ kàn le shí yè jiù fàng xià le.
That novel's content is dry — I put it down after ten pages.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

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

干 and 燥 both mean dry, so the word describes a lack of moisture or a dull, dry quality.

Characters in this word

The simplified 干 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (饼干, 干杯) it is 乾; in others (干, 干活儿) (干扰) it is 幹 or 干.

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 乾; 干 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

倝

倝gàn乾gān

Same sound today

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

火喿燥

Meaning part形符xíngfú

火火huǒfire

Sound part声符shēngfú

喿

喿zào燥zào

Same sound today

燥 is built from 火 (fire) and 喿, which gives its sound.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 HSK 2.0 Level 4 Texture & Quality Weather

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