adjective #17,075

Meanings

  1. 1 dirty; filthy
  2. 2 to pollute; to contaminate

Examples

Zhè tiáo hé bèi wūrǎn le.
This river has been polluted.
Yīfu shàng yǒu wūzì.
There are stains on the clothes.

Tips

usage
污染 (wūrǎn) = pollution/to pollute, 污水 (wūshuǐ) = sewage, 贪污 (tānwū) = corruption.

Components

radical
shuǐ
water (radical form of 水)
Three-drops water radical on the left — the side-form of . Indexes in the water family. Originally named a stagnant pool — water that doesn't move turns foul — from which came the metaphorical senses 'dirty, filthy, corrupt, pollute' (污染 pollution, 贪污 corruption). The water radical points to the literal scene.
phonetic
kuī
to lose; deficient (here phonetic)
Right supplies the sound — kuī shifts to wū through a long but attested k-/w- alternation in this phonetic family (also visible in wū 'to plaster'). Don't read 'deficient' into the meaning; the link is purely auditory and reaches back to Old Chinese reconstructions.

Stroke Order