水塔 (shuǐ da) — water tower | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

water tower

Measure word · 座

Examples

水塔。
Zhè ge chéng shì de shuǐ da hěn gāo.
This city's water tower is very tall.
水塔。
shuǐ da Yòng lái chǔ cún yǐn yòng shuǐ.
The water tower stores drinking water.
。
Wǒ men pá shàng shuǐ da kàn fēng jǐng.
We climbed the water tower to see the view.

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 names the stored water and 塔 the tall structure, together a water tower.

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.

土荅塔

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

荅

荅dá塔tǎ

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

塔 shows 土 (earth) for the meaning and 荅 (dá) for the sound.

Appears in

Buildings & Structures

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