淡化
dànhuà · HSK 7
desalinate
🌊 淡 bland/fresh + 化 change = make water bland (remove the salt)
淡 means light, bland, or fresh (as in freshwater). 化 means to change or transform. Together they literally say turn something bland — strip the salt out of seawater to make it drinkable.
淡 — water radical 氵 + 炎 (flame, phonetic)
淡 combines the water radical 氵 with 炎 (flame), which serves mainly as the phonetic component. The original sense relates to water that is thin or weak in flavor — diluted. From this it extended to mean bland, light, faint, or pale, as in pale colors or weak tea.
化 — person 亻 + spoon/upside-down person 匕
化 is an associative compound showing a standing person 亻 next to 匕, originally a depiction of a person turned upside-down. Together they suggest a figure transforming from one state to another, giving the core meaning 'change' or 'transform'. The character later extended to senses like 'convert', 'influence', and the noun suffix '-ization'.