洪

hóng
adjective #12,001

Meanings

  1. 1 flood; deluge
  2. 2 big; great; vast

Examples

HSK 4
Jīnnián fāshēng le yánzhòng de hóngshuǐ.
Severe flooding occurred this year.
HSK 4
Tā shuōhuà shēngyīn hóngliàng.
He speaks with a loud, resonant voice.

Tips

usage
洪水 = flood, 洪亮 = loud and clear. Also a common surname.

Components

radical
氵 shuǐ
water (radical form of 水)
Three-drops water radical on the left - the side-form of 水. It indexes 洪 in the water family with 河 river, 海 sea, 涛 wave. A 洪 is a flood, water gone vast and out of control - the radical anchors the meaning to liquid mass.
phonetic
共 gòng
together
Right side 共 supplies the sound - gòng shifted to hóng in 洪's reading. The 'together' meaning is dormant. There's a faint semantic echo (a flood is water from many sources joined into one mass) but treat 共 here as primarily the phonetic. Compare 哄 din, 烘 to roast.

Stroke Order

洪 hóng