重水 (zhòng shuǐ) — heavy water (deuterium oxide, D2O) | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

heavy water (deuterium oxide, D2O)

Examples

重水。
zhòng shuǐ Bǐ pǔ tōng shuǐ zhòng.
Heavy water is heavier than ordinary water.
重水。
Kē xué jiā zài yán jiū zhòng shuǐ de xìng zhì.
Scientists are studying the properties of heavy water.
重水。
Zhè zhǒng yè tǐ shì zhòng shuǐ.
This type of liquid is heavy water.

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.

重 heavy and 水 water combine to name heavy water.

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

東

東dōng重zhòng

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

重 developed from a picture of a man carrying a bag, with 人 for the man and 東 for the bag; a later ground element was folded into the form.

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

水 is a simple drawing of water flowing.

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.