瀑

pù
noun #35,042

Meanings

  1. 1 waterfall
  2. 2 cataract

Examples

HSK 7-9
Shānjiān fēi pù zhí xiè ér xià.
A flying waterfall plunges straight down between the mountains.
HSK 7-9
Zhè tiáo hé de jìntóu shì yí dào gāo pù.
At the end of this river is a tall waterfall.

Tips

usage
瀑 is almost always read pù and used as a bound form, the everyday word is 瀑布 (waterfall). It also has a rare reading bào meaning 'sudden rainstorm' that you'll only see in classical texts. Note the 氵 (water) radical paired with 暴 (violent/sudden): water that crashes down.

Components

radical
氵 shuǐ
water (radical form of 水)
Three-drops water radical on the left, the side-form of 水. Indexes 瀑 in the water family with 河, 海, 流. Marks the character as a kind of water; combined with the violent right-hand 暴, the meaning narrows to water falling with explosive force, a cataract or waterfall.
phonetic
暴 bào
violent; sudden
Right side 暴 supplies the sound, drifting from bào to pù with both tone and consonant shift. 暴 alone means "violent, sudden, explosive," a strong semantic flavour kept here: a 瀑布 waterfall is water in its most violent form. The same phonetic also reads pù in 曝 (sunbathe).

Stroke Order

瀑 pù