溜 (liū): to slip away

Meanings

1 to slip away
2 to sneak off
3 to slide
4 to skate

Characters

溜

liū

to slip; to slide; to sneak off

Examples

他趁没人注意溜走了。

Tā chèn méi rén zhùyì liūzǒu le.

He slipped away while no one was paying attention.

路太滑了，小心别溜倒。

Lù tài huá le, xiǎoxīn bié liū dǎo.

The road is too slippery, be careful not to slip and fall.

孩子们在冰上溜冰。

Háizi men zài bīng shàng liūbīng.

The children are ice skating.

Tips

usage

The everyday reading is liū: slip on a wet surface, slide, skate, or slip away unnoticed (溜走, 溜冰). It also forms the lively reduplicated pattern X-溜溜 (光溜溜, 灰溜溜) meaning 'all over / thoroughly.'

mistakes

Two readings. liū = slip / slide / sneak off (the common one). liù = a row or line of things, a swift current, and several dialect senses: 随大溜 (go with the crowd), 一溜烟 (off in a flash). If it means 'sneak / skate,' it's liū; if it counts a row or names a current, it's liù.

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (radical form)

Left water radical, the indexing radical. Anchors 溜 in the slippery, flowing domain: a wet surface is what you slip on. Same family as 滑 (slide), 流 (flow), 滚 (roll). The radical previews the sliding motion the right side spells out.

phonetic

留 liú

remain; stay (here phonetic)

Right 留 supplies the sound, liú to liū, only a tone shift. There is an ironic semantic clash: 留 means 'stay,' but 溜 means 'slip away.' A pure phonetic role; learners can use the contrast as a memory hook.