水滴 (shuǐ dī) — water droplet, drop of water | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

water dropletdrop of water

Measure word · 滴

Examples

水滴。
Wū yán shàng dī xià yì kē shuǐ dī.
A water droplet dripped from the eaves.
水滴，。
shuǐ dī Rì jī yuè lěi, jìng bǎ shí tou chuān le gè dòng.
Drops of water, accumulating day after day, actually wore a hole through the stone.
水滴。
Tā yòng xiǎn wēi jìng guān chá yì kē shuǐ dī de jié gòu.
He observed the structure of a water droplet under a microscope.

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 is water and 滴 is a drop, so the word means a small drop of 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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

啻

啻chì滴dī

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

滴 has 水, meaning water, on the left, and 啻 on the right, which tells how it sounds.

Appears in

Materials & Substances

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