水坝 (shuǐ bà) — dam | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

dam

Measure word · 座

Examples

水坝。
Zhè zuò shuǐ bà jiàn yú shàng shì jì wǔ shí nián dài.
This dam was built in the 1950s.
水坝。
shuǐ bà Bèi hóng shuǐ chōng kuǎ le yí bù fen.
Part of the dam was washed away by the flood.
水坝。
Xiū jiàn dà xíng shuǐ bà xū yào kǎo lǜ shēng tài huán jìng.
Building a large dam requires considering the ecological environment.

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.

坝bàbarrier

'水' (water) plus '坝' (barrier) names a barrier across water.

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.

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 壩; 坝 is its simplified writing.

土霸壩

Meaning part形符xíngfú

土土tǔearth

Sound part声符shēngfú

霸

霸bà壩bà

Same sound today

The traditional form 壩 has 土, earth, and 霸 as its sound; the simplified 坝 is a shorthand, and its right side is not the historical component.

Appears in

Buildings & Structures

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