上水

shàngshuǐ

verb #56,254

Meanings

1 to go upstream
2 to add water
3 upper reaches of a river
4 Sheung Shui (area in Hong Kong, capitalized Shàngshuǐ)

Characters

Examples

船在上水，速度比较慢。

Chuán zài shàngshuǐ, sùdù bǐjiào màn.

The boat is going upstream, so it's relatively slow.

上水前请检查水箱。

Shàngshuǐ qián qǐng jiǎnchá shuǐxiāng.

Please check the tank before adding water.

他住在香港上水。

Tā zhù zài Xiānggǎng Shàngshuǐ.

He lives in Sheung Shui, Hong Kong.

Tips

usage

上水 has three distinct senses: (1) a verb for boats going upstream or adding water to something, (2) 'upper reaches' of a river, and (3) the Hong Kong place name Sheung Shui — a New Territories town near the Shenzhen border famous during the 2010s for cross-border parallel traders.

grammar

Contrast 上水 (go upstream) with 下水 — which means 'go downstream' but also, as a noun, 'offal/innards.' Context determines reading.

Stroke Order

上 shàng

水 shuǐ