Common Usage & Traps
- 游泳 — to swim
- 游泳池 — swimming pool
- 去游泳 — go swimming
-
泳水游泳泳 is a bound morpheme; it cannot take 水 as an object. The verb is 游泳.
-
我泳。我游泳。泳 cannot stand alone as a verb in modern Mandarin. It must appear in the compound 游泳.
泳
Origin & Mnemonic:
To move through water by using the body; to swim. To swim; swimming as a sport or leisure activity. Water (氵) beside 永 (long-lasting) — continuous movement through water.
Why does 泳 look like 永 with water?
泳 is just 永 plus the water radical 氵; do not trust the folk story that 永 originally meant swimming.
Many learners are told that 永 originally depicted a person swimming, so 泳 is 'water + swimming'. That etymology is disputed and not useful for modern usage. What matters is simple: 泳 is a bound morpheme that only appears in compounds like 游泳. 永 means 'forever' and has no water radical. The visual similarity is real, but the 'swimming person' story is a stretch.
| Character | Meaning | Key Difference |
|---|---|---|
| 泳 | to swim (bound) | Has water radical 氵; only used in 游泳 |
| 永 | forever | No water radical; unrelated meaning |
Can 泳 be used alone to mean 'swim'?
No. 泳 is a bound morpheme; you must say 游泳.
In modern Mandarin, 泳 never appears alone as a verb. It only exists inside compounds like 游泳 (to swim) or 游泳池 (swimming pool). Saying 我泳 sounds broken. Always use the full two-character verb 游泳.
| Usage | Example | Correct? |
|---|---|---|
| Standalone | 我泳。 | No |
| Compound | 我游泳。 | Yes |
Appears in Stories 1 story
In this dialogue, two people chat while waiting outside a cinema. You'll hear common phrases for talking about hobbies, sports, and movie preferences.
-
我有时会去 游泳 。
Questions & Discussion 0 questions
No questions or discussions yet. Have a question about this character/word? Be the first to ask!