水 shuǐ
- Strokes
- 4
- Radical
- 水 — water, liquid, lotion, juice
- How it's built
- Pictograph — a drawing of the thing
水滴石穿
shuǐdīshíchuān
constant dripping wears away stone; persistence brings success
Characters in this word
滴 dī
- Strokes
- 14
- Radical
- 氵 — water
- Made of
- 氵 water 啇 stalk, stem, root, foot, base
- How it's built
- Phono-semantic — one part hints at the meaning, another at the sound
石 shí
- Strokes
- 5
- Radical
- 石 — stone, rock, mineral
- How it's built
- Ideograph — the meaning is built from its parts
Example phrases
- 学习没有捷径，靠的是水滴石穿的功夫。 Xuéxí méiyǒu jiējìng, kào de shì shuǐdīshíchuān de gōngfu. There are no shortcuts in study; what it relies on is patient, persistent effort.
- 只要每天坚持练琴，水滴石穿，总有一天会弹好。 Zhǐyào měitiān jiānchí liàn qín, shuǐdīshíchuān, zǒng yǒu yītiān huì tán hǎo. If you keep practicing the piano every day, persistence will pay off and one day you will play well.
- 他凭着水滴石穿的毅力，终于写完了这本书。 Tā píngzhe shuǐdīshíchuān de yìlì, zhōngyú xiě wán le zhè běn shū. Relying on tireless persistence, he finally finished writing this book.