澡 zǎo bathe
How to remember 澡: 氵 water + 喿 chirp = bathe. Grandpa runs hot water into the tub, hums along to the chirp of the birds outside and sinks down to bathe.
Component breakdown
澡 = 氵 water + 喿 chirp
- 氵 water
- 喿 chirp
Grandpa runs hot water into the tub, hums along to the chirp of the birds outside and sinks down to bathe.
How it came to be
Water with a tree full of noisy birds beside it for the sound. There is nothing of the birds in the meaning: the water is doing all the work.
How it is used
- Bound morpheme meaning 'bathe' - you almost never see 澡 alone; the everyday word is 洗澡 (xǐzǎo) take a bath/shower.
- 洗澡 is intransitive as a unit: say 我去洗澡 (wǒ qù xǐzǎo) I'm going to shower, not 洗澡身体.
- The bath-water is 洗澡水 (xǐzǎoshuǐ); the room can be 澡堂 (zǎotáng) a public bathhouse.
Characters built with 澡
Words with 澡
Example sentences
- 夏天洗澡很凉快。 Xiàtiān xǐzǎo hěn liángkuai.Taking a bath in summer is very refreshing [lit., "cool"]. .
- 她在给大象洗澡。 Tā zài gěi dàxiàng xǐzǎo.He's giving the elephant a bath.