废水 (fèi shuǐ) — wastewater, effluent

Definition

noun
wastewatereffluent
Easily confused

Examples

  • 废水。
    Gōng chǎng bì xū chǔ lǐ fèi shuǐ cái néng pái fàng.
    Factories must treat wastewater before discharging it.
  • 废水。
    Shēng huó fèi shuǐ zhí jiē pái rù hé liú huì wū rǎn huán jìng.
    Discharging domestic wastewater directly into rivers pollutes the environment.
  • 废水。
    Zhè zhǒng xīn jì shù néng yǒu xiào jìng huà fèi shuǐ.
    This new technology can effectively purify wastewater.

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.

废fèiwaste
水shuǐwater

废 gives waste and 水 gives water, together meaning used or unwanted 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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 廢; 废 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
广广guǎnghouse
Sound part声符shēngfú
發
發fā廢fèi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 廢 shows 广 as a house and 發 as the sound.

Open 废 →

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 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.