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水利 (shuǐ lì) — water conservancy (including irrigation, flood control, and water resources management)

Definition

水利 is the broad field of water conservancy — the engineering and management of water resources (irrigation, flood control, hydropower). 水库 is the physical reservoir within this system; 防汛 is the specific seasonal activity of flood prevention.

noun
water conservancy (including irrigation, flood control, and water resources management)

Examples

  • 水利。
    Zhè ge dì qū de shuǐ lì shè shī fēi cháng xiān jìn.
    The water conservancy facilities in this area are very advanced.
  • 水利。
    Zhèng fǔ tóu zī jiàn shè le hěn duō shuǐ lì gōng chéng.
    The government invested in building many water conservancy projects.
  • 水利。
    shuǐ lì Duì fáng hóng qǐ zhe zhòng yào zuò yòng.
    Water conservancy plays an important role in flood control.

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.

水shuǐwater
利lìbenefit

水 (“water”) and 利 (“benefit”) together refer to managing water for benefit.

Characters in this word

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 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

利 combines 禾 (grain) and 刀 (knife), showing a knife used to cut grain.

Open 利 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6

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