漏洞
lòudòng · HSK 5
loophole
💧🕳️ 漏洞 = 漏 (leak) + 洞 (hole) — a leaking hole, literal or figurative
漏 combines 氵(water) with a roof radical, evoking water escaping a building; 洞 is 氵plus 同, a watery cavity. Together they name any gap where something slips through — water from a pipe or a flaw in a security system.
漏 — water radical 氵 + 屚 (leak component, rain 雨 under roof 尸)
漏 combines the water radical 氵 with 屚, which depicts rain 雨 leaking through a roof 尸. The right side gives both meaning and sound, while 氵 reinforces the water sense. Originally referring to a water clock or leaking water, it now broadly means 'to leak' or 'omit'.
洞 — water radical 氵 + tóng 同 (phonetic)
洞 is a phono-semantic compound. The water radical 氵 hints at the original sense of a hole or cavity carved out by water, while 同 (tóng) supplies the sound. From 'cave' or 'hollow' it extended to mean 'to penetrate' and figuratively 'to understand thoroughly,' as in 洞察.