Meaning of 海洋
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- ocean
How to use 海洋
海洋 is a fairly formal, general word for the ocean or the seas as a whole, common in science, news and environmental topics. In daily talk about going to the beach, people usually say 大海 (dàhǎi) or 海边 (hǎibiān) instead. Example: 我们要保护海洋。(Wǒmen yào bǎohù hǎiyáng.) We should protect the oceans.
Both 海 (hǎi) and 洋 (yáng) have the water radical 氵 on the left, so 海洋 is water plus more water. Think of it as the sea and the ocean put together into one big word for all the world's oceans.
Common mistake: Learners often write 洋 with 羊 missing a stroke or confuse it with 样 (yàng), which has 木 instead of 氵. Also remember 洋 is second tone (yáng), not fourth like 样.
海洋 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.
海 hǎi · ocean · 10 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
洋 yáng · ocean · 9 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
Related words
Words that share a character with 海洋.
Questions about 海洋
What does 海洋 mean?
海洋 (hǎiyáng) means "ocean" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 海洋?
海洋 is made of 2 characters: 海 (10 strokes), 洋 (9 strokes). That is 19 strokes in total.
Is 海洋 an HSK word?
Yes. 海洋 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 海洋 and 大海?
大海 is everyday and a bit emotional, like the sea you see or swim in. 海洋 is more formal and covers the oceans as a whole system, so it appears in words like 海洋生物 (hǎiyáng shēngwù) marine life.
How do you name a specific ocean like the Pacific in Chinese?
Specific oceans use 洋 alone: 太平洋 (Tàipíng Yáng) Pacific Ocean, 大西洋 (Dàxī Yáng) Atlantic Ocean, 印度洋 (Yìndù Yáng) Indian Ocean. Smaller seas use 海, as in 南海 (Nán Hǎi) South China Sea.