榴 (liú) — pomegranate (in the compound 石榴); grenade (in the compound 榴弹)

Definition

Standalone 榴 is rare — it almost always appears in compounds: 石榴 (pomegranate) and 榴弹 (grenade), whose shared 'round, seed-filled' shape links the two senses.

noun
pomegranate (in the compound 石榴)grenade (in the compound 榴弹)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 。
    Wǒ zuì xǐ huan chī shí liú le.
    I like eating pomegranates the most.
  • ，。
    Shí liú de zǐ hěn duō, chī qǐ lái hěn má fan.
    Pomegranates have a lot of seeds, so they're troublesome to eat.
  • 。
    Jūn duì shǐ yòng le yì zhǒng xīn xíng shǒu liú dàn.
    The military used a new type of grenade.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

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mù
Sound part声符shēngfú
留
留liú榴liú
Same sound today

The left side 木 marks a tree, while the right side 留 gives the character its sound.

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