石 shí
- Strokes
- 5
- Radical
- 石 — stone, rock, mineral
- How it's built
- Ideograph — the meaning is built from its parts
石油
shíyóu
oil
Characters in this word
油 yóu
- Strokes
- 8
- Radical
- 氵 — water
- Made of
- 氵 water 由 cause, reason
- How it's built
- Phono-semantic — one part hints at the meaning, another at the sound
Example phrases
- 这里有石油。 Zhè lǐ yǒu shí yóu. There is oil here.
- 石油很重要。 Shí yóu hěn zhòng yào. Oil is very important.
- 他们卖石油。 Tā men mài shí yóu. They sell oil.