枯井 (kū jǐng) — dried-up well, dry well

Definition

枯井 means a well that has dried up and no longer holds water — a literal compound of 枯 ('withered/dried') and 井 ('well'). It is a concrete, literal noun, not figurative.

noun
dried-up welldry well
Measure word · 口

Examples

  • 枯井。
    Cūn kǒu nà kǒu kū jǐng yǐ jīng hěn jiǔ méi rén yòng le.
    That dried-up well at the village entrance hasn't been used for a long time.
  • 枯井，。
    Zhè kǒu kū jǐng lǐ céng jīng yǒu shuǐ, xiàn zài gān hé le.
    This dry well used to have water, but now it's dried up.
  • 枯井。
    Tā men zài kū jǐng biān fā xiàn le yì xiē gǔ lǎo de táo qì.
    They discovered some ancient pottery near the dry well.

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.

枯kūdry
井jǐngwell

枯 means dry, and 井 means well, so 枯井 is a dried-up well.

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
木木mùtree
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ枯kū
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

枯 pairs 木 (tree) with 古, which gives the sound.

Open 枯 →

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

The shape of 井 draws a square well with supports on four sides.

Open 井 →

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