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深渊 (shēn yuān) — abyss (literal and figurative)

Definition

Literally 'deep abyss' — a bottomless pit, used figuratively for a hopeless state (despair, war, ruin). Stronger and more literary than the everyday word 深.

noun
abyss (literal and figurative)

Examples

  • 深渊。
    Nà ge xuán yá xià miàn shì yí gè wú dǐ de shēn yuān.
    Beneath that cliff is a bottomless abyss.
  • 深渊。
    Tā xiàn rù le jué wàng de shēn yuān.
    He fell into an abyss of despair.
  • 深渊。
    Zhè ge guó jiā jī hū diào jìn le zhàn zhēng de shēn yuān.
    This country almost fell into the abyss of war.

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.

深shēndeep
渊yuānabyss

深, deep, joins with 渊, an abyss, to mean a deep abyss.

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
𥥍
𥥍𥥍深shēn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

深 is built from 氵, the side form of 水 “water”, and 𥥍, which supplies the sound.

Open 深 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 淵; 渊 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 淵 began as a picture of a basin with water, and later forms added vertical strokes like riverbanks around it.

Appears in
Geography & Landforms

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