饮用水
yǐn yòng shuǐ · HSK 7
water
🚰💧 饮用水 = drink (饮) + use (用) + water (水) = water for drinking use
饮 means to drink and 用 means to use, so 饮用水 is literally water meant for the drinking-use, i.e. potable tap or bottled water safe to consume.
用 — pictograph of a bucket or wooden pail
用 originally depicted a bucket or container, possibly a sacrificial vessel made of wood. Over time it was borrowed to mean 'to use' or 'employ,' losing its concrete object sense. The modern meaning 'use' has been standard since early classical Chinese.
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.