纯净水
chúnjìngshuǐ · HSK 4
water
💧 纯 pure + 净 clean + 水 water = pure clean water
Three characters stack literal meanings: 纯 (chún, pure/unmixed) + 净 (jìng, clean) + 水 (shuǐ, water). The compound names bottled purified water sold everywhere in China — the label you see on convenience-store shelves.
纯 — silk radical 糹+ 屯 (phonetic)
纯 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the silk radical 糹 gives the meaning (pure, unmixed silk thread) and 屯 supplies the sound. It originally described unbleached, undyed silk, then broadened to mean 'pure,' 'unmixed,' or 'simple' in a moral or qualitative sense.
净 — water radical 氵 + 争 (zhēng, contend)
净 combines the water radical 氵 with 争, which provides the sound. Originally written 淨, it depicted water used to wash things clean, with 争 hinting at the pronunciation. The meaning extended from 'wash with water' to the modern senses of 'clean, pure, net'.
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.