河面 (hé miàn) — river surface; surface of a river

Definition

noun

river surfacesurface of a river

Measure word · 片

河面，。
Yáng guāng sǎ zài hé miàn shàng, shǎn shǎn fā guāng.
Sunlight falls on the river surface, sparkling.
河面。
Xiǎo chuán zài píng jìng de hé miàn shàng màn màn piāo zhe.
A small boat drifts slowly on the calm river surface.
河面。
Dōng tiān de hé miàn jié le yī céng báo bīng.
The river surface froze into a thin layer of ice in winter.

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.

河 names the river and 面 names its surface, giving the surface of a river.

Characters in this word

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

何

Same sound today

河 pairs 水 (water) with 何, which gives the sound. The 水 part marks it as a word for a river.

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

面 originally drew a man’s face, with one eye exaggerated; the horizontal stroke was added later.