雙語解字: Chinese Characters 04-water（水）

​Water（水）

Water(水),a natural source of power,is represented by a pictograph of surging waters with a central mainstream and four whirls. A variant form,using only three drops(氵),operates as radical to induce a flood of “watery” characters. To this day, the proverbial saying is afloat: “Water can support a ship,and water can upset it.”

象形字的“水”，就像水流的樣子。中間的豎勾是從水的主流變來的，兩邊原本是四條曲線，代表水滴和浪花。“水”字的一個變體是三點水(氵)，以氵作為偏旁，產生了大量和水有關的漢字。直到今天，還流傳著那句有關水的諺語：“水能載舟，亦能覆舟。”

Spilt Water Cannot Be Retrieved

This allusion originates partly in folklore and partly from “the Biography of Zhu Maichen(朱買臣)”in the History of the Han Dynasty.

Zhu Maichen was very poor when he was young. Seeing no future for him, his wife left him.His fortunes revived,however,and he was appointed governor of his home region.Once,he met his former wife and her second husband in the street. The woman asked him to take her back,but Zhu Maichen splashed water on the ground,and told her if she could retrieve the water,their marriage could be resumed.

Later, this allusion came to be used to describe an irrevocable action or decision.

[本段英文翻譯：周苓仲]

覆水難收

這個典故出自民間故事以及《漢書·朱買臣傳》。

西漢時，朱買臣家境貧寒，妻子崔氏嫌他不會有出頭之日，就棄他而去改嫁了。後來朱買臣改變了命運，得到漢武帝賞識，被任命為他故鄉（會稽）的太守。有一次，他在路上遇到前妻崔氏和她的第二任丈夫。崔氏攔住馬車磕頭請罪，希望能夠復婚。朱買臣讓手下人取過一盆水潑到地上，對崔氏說：“你若能把倒出的水收回來到盆里，我就和你破鏡重圓。”

這個成語比喻事情已成定局，無法改變，不可挽回。

 “Analysis of Chinese Characters by bilingual”，is opened for the convenience of Chinese and foreign friends who are interested in Chinese characters. We’ll push a Chinese character every Monday，analyze its originand related culture. If there is any impropriety，welcome to correct us.

為方便對漢字感興趣的中國朋友和外國朋友，我們新開設了《雙語解字》欄目。每周一推送一個漢字的來歷和相關文化，如果其中有不恰當的地方，歡迎中外朋友指正。