Writing Balance Rule: Ensure the water radical on the left is compact, giving enough proportional width to the right component (寎) so the character remains balanced.
1. Meaning
to immerse or soak in liquid
to steepgradually (as in 渐渐 jiànjiàn)
VerbNeutral#water#actions#processes
Sample Usage
把衣服浸在水里。
bǎ yīfu jìn zài shuǐ lǐ.
Soak the clothes in water.
浸泡在温水中。
jìnpào zài wēnshuǐ zhōng.
Immerse in warm water.
2. Sound
/[t͡ɕin˥˩]/Tone: 51
浸
jìnjin4
|
++
`(51)
=jìn
Build the syllable
Step-by-step blending
jin
Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "i" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).
Initial Consonant
j
Type: Unaspirated Alveolo-Palatal
Sounds like: j as in jeep
Unaspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: No air puff. Lips spread wide like smiling.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Blade of the tongue touches or is very close to the hard palate behind the alveolar ridge.
Final Rhyme
in
Vowel Group: -i vowel group
Sounds like: -in rhymes with 'in' or 'een'
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'een'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T4 (51)
5 → 1 (51)
4th Tone (High-Falling)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and drops sharply to the bottom, just like a commanding voice saying 'No!' or giving a sudden drop in pitch.
Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 4 syllable, the tone changes to a half-falling tone (around 53 pitch value).
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Listening trap: Confusing the retroflex initial or mistaking the nasal ending -in for -ing (-ing has a back nasal velar, whereas -in has a front alveolar nasal n).
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Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, authoritative chop downward with your hand, mirroring the high-to-low dropping motion of Tone 4.
3. Writing
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: Ensure the water radical on the left is compact, giving enough proportional width to the right component (寎) so the character remains balanced.
4. Components
Radical氵 · Water Radical (Water, liquid)
Semantic Clue (形旁):氵 (Indicates liquid, soaking, or immersion)
Water (氵) combines with the broom-like phonetic element (帚) to represent soaking or steeping things thoroughly in liquid.
氵 Water semantic clue
帚 Phonetic clue
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
8· Phonetic Root: 彐 (jì)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Combined from the water sign (氵) to denote liquids and a phonetic element (帚) representing the sound and original structure.
Semantic Evolution: Originally referring to soaking or steeping in water, it extended to metaphors of being deeply immersed in something (like 沉浸) or happening gradually.
Frequently used in classical and modern Chinese to describe atmospheric immersion.
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
tẩm
The rising/glottal inflection of 'tẩm' corresponds conceptually to historical Chinese entering or departing tones, adapted into Vietnamese.
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Kanji (Japanese)
On: シン / Kun: ひた.す, ひた.る
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Hanja (Korean)
침
Sound Shift Bridge: Shares roots with East Asian literary readings (e.g., Japanese Shin, Korean Chim).
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Imagine taking a dirty broom (帚) and completely soaking/immersing (浸) it into a bucket of water (氵) until it is dripping wet.