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水门 (shuǐ mén) — water valve; floodgate (physical water control gate); Watergate (the 1970s U.S. political scandal, or by extension any major political scandal)

Definition

Literally "water gate," 水门 means a physical floodgate or water-control valve. By extension, it refers to the 1970s U.S. Watergate scandal, and is now used as a generic term for any major political scandal.

noun
water valvefloodgate (physical water control gate)Watergate (the 1970s U.S. political scandal, or by extension any major political scandal)
Measure word · 座

Examples

  • 水门。
    Gōng rén zhèng zài jiǎn xiū shuǐ kù de shuǐ mén.
    Workers are repairing the reservoir's floodgate.
  • 水门。
    Zhè qǐ zhèng zhì chǒu wén bèi chēng wéi xīn shuǐ mén shì jiàn.
    This political scandal has been called a new Watergate incident.
  • 水门，。
    Dǎ kāi shuǐ mén, guàn gài shuǐ jiù huì liú rù nóng tián.
    Open the water valve, and irrigation water will flow into the farmland.

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
门méngate

The 水 means water and the 门 means gate, so the word describes a gate that controls 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.

Open 水 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 門; 门 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 門 pictures a gate as two door shapes side by side; the simplified 门 is a later shorthand.

Open 门 →
Appears in
Buildings & Structures

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