蒸发 zhēngfā to evaporate
to evaporate; evaporation
How to remember 蒸发: 蒸 steam + 发 send out = to evaporate.
Characters
How it is used
- Literal evaporation - 水蒸发了 (shuǐ zhēngfā le) the water evaporated.
- Common slang extension: to vanish without a trace - 人间蒸发 (rénjiān zhēngfā) to disappear off the face of the earth.
- Scientific and everyday register both; the figurative sense is informal and vivid.