泥沙 (ní shā) — silt; sediment; (figurative) something worthless or of low quality (from the idiom 泥沙俱下)

Definition

泥沙 is literally 'mud and sand' — silt and sediment carried or deposited by water. In the idiom 泥沙俱下 it means worthless matter mixed in with the good, implying bad things flooding in alongside the valuable.

noun
siltsediment(figurative) something worthless or of low quality (from the idiom 泥沙俱下)

Examples

  • 泥沙，。
    Zhè tiáo hé lǐ ní shā tài duō, shuǐ hěn hún zhuó.
    This river has too much sediment, the water is very muddy.
  • ，泥沙。
    Gǎi gé kāi fàng chū qī, gè zhǒng sī xiǎng ní shā jù xià.
    In the early days of reform and opening up, all kinds of ideas, good and bad, came flooding in.
  • ，泥沙。
    Zhè xiē zuò pǐn zhì liàng bù yī, ní shā hěn duō.
    These works vary in quality; there is a lot of worthless stuff.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

泥nímud
沙shāsand

Mud and sand together name silt or sediment, the mixed gritty stuff.

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
尼
尼ní泥nì
Same sound today

The left side is 氵, the water part; the right side is 尼, which gives the sound.

Open 泥 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

沙 puts 少 (dots) beside 水 (water), showing sand on a shoreline.

Open 沙 →

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