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降水 (jiàng shuǐ) — (verb) to have precipitation, to fall as rain or snow

Definition

降水 (jiàngshuǐ) is a formal/scientific term for 'precipitation' — used in weather reports and meteorology, more technical than the everyday verb 降 ('to fall, to drop') for things like prices or temperature.

verb
to have precipitationto fall as rain or snow

Examples

  • 降水。
    Míng tiān xià wǔ kě néng huì jiàng shuǐ.
    There may be precipitation tomorrow afternoon.
  • 降水。
    Zhè ge dì qū hěn shǎo jiàng shuǐ.
    This region seldom has precipitation.
  • 降水。
    Tiān qì yù bào shuō xià ge yuè huì yǒu jiàng shuǐ.
    The weather forecast says there will be precipitation next month.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

降jiàngfall
水shuǐwater

降 means fall and 水 means water, so the word describes water falling as rain or snow.

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
阝Written in full as阜fùhill, wall
Sound part声符shēngfú
夅
夅jiàng降xiáng
Same sound today

降 pairs 阝 (a hill or wall, written in full as 阜) with 夅, a sound part meaning 'to descend'; together they picture descending a hill.

Open 降 →

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

水 is a simple drawing of water flowing.

Open 水 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5

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