shù
verb #18,399

Meanings

  1. 1 to rinse one's mouth with water
  2. 2 to gargle

Examples

HSK 2
Chī wán fàn yào shùkǒu.
You should rinse your mouth after eating.
HSK 7-9
Yòng yánshuǐ shùkǒu kěyǐ shājūn.
Gargling with salt water can kill germs.

Tips

usage
almost always appears in 漱口 (to rinse the mouth/gargle). It's rarely used alone.

Components

radical
shuǐ
water (radical form of 水)
Three-drops water radical on the left, the side form of . It carries the meaning: rinsing the mouth and gargling are water actions, so the radical does direct semantic work, placing in the wet-mouth family along with tears, saliva, wash.
phonetic
shuò
to suck in
The right side supplies the sound, shuò drifting to shù through a regular vowel shift. itself combines bundle with mouth-open, depicting sharp inhalation. A faint semantic flavor leaks in: gargling is a mouth motion involving water moved by breath, so the phonetic indirectly reinforces the picture.

Stroke Order

shù