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沃 (wò) — (bound form) fertile, rich (in 肥沃, 沃土, 沃野); (bound form) to irrigate, water (in 沃灌, literary)

Definition

沃 (wò) is a bound morpheme — not used alone — meaning 'fertile' (as in 肥沃, 沃土, 沃野). The sense 'to irrigate' is literary and rare; in modern Chinese, 灌溉 covers everyday irrigation.

bound form
fertilerich (in 肥沃, 沃土, 沃野)to irrigatewater (in 沃灌, literary)

Examples

  • 。
    Zhè lǐ de wò tǔ fēi cháng shì hé zhòng zhí shuǐ dào.
    The fertile soil here is very suitable for growing rice.
  • ，沃。
    Jīng guò duō nián kāi kěn, wò yě biàn chéng le liáng tián.
    After years of reclamation, the fertile plains turned into good farmland.
  • 沃。
    Gǔ dài nóng mín yòng hé shuǐ wò guàn nóng tián.
    Ancient farmers used river water to irrigate the farmland.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
夭
夭yāo沃wò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

沃 combines 氵 (water) with 夭 giving the sound; the shape shows irrigating with water.

Appears in
Agriculture & Farming

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