Meaning of 沿海
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- coastal
How to use 沿海
沿海 describes coastal areas, cities, or regions, and often comes before a noun like 地区 (dìqū) or 城市 (chéngshì). It is common in news, geography, and economics. Example: 上海是一个沿海城市。(Shànghǎi shì yí ge yánhǎi chéngshì.) Shanghai is a coastal city.
沿 (yán) means to go along an edge, and 海 (hǎi) is the sea, so 沿海 is the land running along the sea. Both characters have the water radical 氵, which fits a word about the coast.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 沿海 and 海边 (hǎi biān). 海边 is the seaside or beach where you go for a walk, while 沿海 is a wider coastal region, so say 去海边玩 (qù hǎi biān wán), not 去沿海玩.
沿海 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
沿 yán · along · 8 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
海 hǎi · ocean · 10 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Related words
Words that share a character with 沿海.
| 大海 | dàhǎi | sea; ocean |
| 海边 | hǎi biān | coast; seaside; seashore; beach |
| 海关 | hǎiguān | customs (i.e. border crossing inspection) |
| 海水 | hǎishuǐ | seawater |
| 海鲜 | hǎixiān | seafood |
| 海洋 | hǎiyáng | ocean |
| 海军 | hǎijūn | navy |
| 沿着 | yánzhe | to go along; to follow |
| 海底 | hǎidǐ | seabed; seafloor; bottom of the ocean |
| 海外 | hǎiwài | overseas; abroad |
| 海报 | hǎibào | poster; playbill |
| 海湾 | hǎiwān | bay; gulf |
Questions about 沿海
What does 沿海 mean?
沿海 (yánhǎi) means "coastal" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 沿海?
沿海 is made of 2 characters: 沿 (8 strokes), 海 (10 strokes). That is 18 strokes in total.
Is 沿海 an HSK word?
Yes. 沿海 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the opposite of 沿海 in Chinese?
The usual opposite is 内陆 (nèilù), meaning inland. You will often see 沿海地区 and 内陆地区 compared in talk about China's economy.
Can 沿海 be used as a place on its own?
Yes, it can act like a noun for the coastal area, as in 在沿海 (zài yánhǎi), on the coast. More often, though, it describes another noun, as in 沿海省份 (yánhǎi shěngfèn), coastal provinces.