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海水 meaning in English

hǎishuǐ

seawater

HSK 4noun14 strokes

Meaning of 海水

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

hǎishuǐ
  1. seawater

How to use 海水

海水 is a common noun for the water of the sea, used when talking about swimming, salt, color, or pollution. Example: 海水很咸。(Hǎishuǐ hěn xián.) Seawater is very salty.

海 (hǎi) means sea, and it already has the water radical 氵 on its left side. Add 水 (shuǐ, water) and you get sea plus water, which is simply seawater.

Common mistake: Learners sometimes use 海水 to mean the sea itself, but for the sea or ocean as a place you should say 大海 (dàhǎi) or 海 (hǎi). Also remember that both syllables are third tone, so in speech 海 changes to a rising second tone: hái shuǐ.

海水 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

人rén不bù可kě貌mào相xiàng，海hǎi水shuǐ不bù可kě斗dǒu量liáng。
You can't judge a person by appearance, just as you can't measure the sea with a pint pot.
通tōng过guò这zhè个ge装zhuāng置zhì有yǒu可kě能néng把bǎ海hǎi水shuǐ变biàn成chéng淡dàn水shuǐ。
Using this device it's possible to turn ocean water into freshwater.
有yǒu了le这zhè个ge装zhuāng置zhì，把bǎ海hǎi水shuǐ净jìng化huà成chéng淡dàn水shuǐ就jiù不bú是shì难nán事shì了le。
This device made it possible to turn sea-water into fresh water easily.
在zài夏xià威wēi夷yí，一yí个gè人rén可kě以yǐ一yì年nián到dào头tóu享xiǎng受shòu海hǎi水shuǐ浴yù的de乐lè趣qù。
In Hawaii, one can swim in the ocean all year round.
海hǎi水shuǐ蓝lán蓝lán的de，远yuǎn远yuǎn看kàn去qù像xiàng一yī大dà片piàn丝sī绸chóu铺pù开kāi。
The sea is deep blue, and from afar it looks like a vast sheet of silk spread out.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

海 hǎi · ocean · 10 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10

水 shuǐ · water · 4 strokes

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4

Related words

Words that share a character with 海水.

水果shuǐguǒfruit
大海dàhǎisea; ocean
水平shuǐpínghorizontal; level; a standard; a level (of ability, development etc)
海边hǎi biāncoast; seaside; seashore; beach
药水yàoshuǐmedicine in liquid form; bottled medicine
海关hǎiguāncustoms (i.e. border crossing inspection)
凉水liángshuǐcool water; unboiled water
汽水qìshuǐsoda pop; carbonated soft drink
泪水lèishuǐteardrop; tears
海鲜hǎixiānseafood
矿泉水kuàngquánshuǐmineral water
开水kāishuǐboiled water; boiling water

Questions about 海水

What does 海水 mean?

海水 (hǎishuǐ) means "seawater" and is used as a noun.

How do you write 海水?

海水 is made of 2 characters: 海 (10 strokes), 水 (4 strokes). That is 14 strokes in total.

Is 海水 an HSK word?

Yes. 海水 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

What is the difference between 海水 and 淡水?

海水 (hǎishuǐ) is salty seawater, while 淡水 (dànshuǐ) is fresh water, like river or lake water. 淡 means light or bland, so fresh water is the water that is not salty.

Can I say 喝海水 to mean drinking seawater?

Yes, 喝海水 (hē hǎishuǐ) is grammatical and natural. You might hear it in a warning like 不能喝海水 (bù néng hē hǎishuǐ), you cannot drink seawater.

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