开水
kāi shuǐ · HSK 4
boiling water
♨️💧 开水 = open/boil + water
开 (kāi) means to open or start, and by extension to boil (as in starting the bubbling). 水 (shuǐ) is water. Together: water that has been brought to a boil — a staple drink in Chinese households.
开 — two hands 廾 + door 门 (open gate)
Originally written 開, showing two hands (廾) lifting the bar (一) off a gate (門) to open it. The simplified form 开 keeps the two-hands element and drops the gate. Core meaning 'to open' extended to 'start, operate, bloom'.
水 — pictograph of flowing water
水 is a pictograph depicting a stream of flowing water, with the central line representing the main current and the side strokes showing splashing droplets or ripples. In oracle bone script it was drawn even more clearly as a wavy vertical line with branches. It retains its original meaning of 'water' and also serves as a radical, often appearing in the compressed form 氵.