Meaning of 污水
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- sewage
How to use 污水
污水 is a common word in news, environmental topics and city planning, often paired with verbs like 排放 (páifàng, to discharge) or 处理 (chǔlǐ, to treat). Example: 工厂不能把污水排进河里。(Gōngchǎng bù néng bǎ wūshuǐ pái jìn hé lǐ.) Factories cannot discharge sewage into the river.
污 (wū) means dirty, and 水 (shuǐ) means water, so 污水 is simply dirty water, or sewage. Notice that 污 already has the water radical 氵 on the left, so the whole word is water that has been made dirty.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write 污 with 亏 on the right and confuse it with 汗 (hàn, sweat), which has 干 on the right. Also keep 污 in the first tone (wū), not the third tone like 五 (wǔ).
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
污 wū · filthy · 6 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
水 shuǐ · water · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 污水.
| 水果 | shuǐguǒ | fruit |
| 水平 | shuǐpíng | horizontal; level; a standard; a level (of ability, development etc) |
| 药水 | yàoshuǐ | medicine in liquid form; bottled medicine |
| 凉水 | liángshuǐ | cool water; unboiled water |
| 海水 | hǎishuǐ | seawater |
| 汽水 | qìshuǐ | soda pop; carbonated soft drink |
| 泪水 | lèishuǐ | teardrop; tears |
| 矿泉水 | kuàngquánshuǐ | mineral water |
| 开水 | kāishuǐ | boiled water; boiling water |
| 纯净水 | chúnjìngshuǐ | purified water |
| 污染 | wūrǎn | (lit. and fig.) to pollute; to contaminate |
| 雨水 | yǔshuǐ | rainwater; rainfall; rain |
Questions about 污水
What does 污水 mean?
污水 (wūshuǐ) means "sewage" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 污水?
污水 is made of 2 characters: 污 (6 strokes), 水 (4 strokes). That is 10 strokes in total.
Is 污水 an HSK word?
Yes. 污水 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 污水 and 脏水?
Both mean dirty water. 脏水 (zāngshuǐ) is casual and used for everyday things like mop water, while 污水 sounds more formal and usually means sewage or wastewater from homes and factories.
How do you say sewage treatment plant in Chinese?
It is 污水处理厂 (wūshuǐ chǔlǐ chǎng). You may also see 污水处理 (wūshuǐ chǔlǐ) on its own, meaning sewage treatment.