HSK 4 · Verbs

污染 wūrǎn “to pollute” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 污染 means

  1. to pollute
  2. to contaminate (lit. and fig.)
  3. (lit. and fig.) to pollute
  4. to contaminate

How to say 污染

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale污wū1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale染rǎn3rd tone, dipping

污染 in a sentence

  1. 这水被石油污染了。

    Zhè shuǐ bèi shíyóu wūrǎn le.

    This water has been polluted by oil.

    Sentence #755837 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我们应该尽力不要污染环境。

    Wǒmen yīnggāi jìnlì búyào wūrǎn huánjìng.

    We should do our best not to pollute the environment.

    Sentence #349546 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 汽车尾气在城镇里造成了严重的污染。

    Qìchē wěiqì zài chéngzhèn lǐ zàochéng le yánzhòng de wūrǎn.

    Car exhaust has caused serious pollution in towns.

    Sentence #5715189 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 污染 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 污 (wū) with each of its parts in a different colour
污wūdirty
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 亏to lose · kuīSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 亏 (kuī) hints at the sound. Compare it with wū.

The character 染 (rǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
染rǎnto dye
  • 氿spring · guǐ
  • 木tree · mù

How to write 污染

污 6 strokes · 染 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

污染 (wūrǎn) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 污染 (wūrǎn). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 污染

Words with 污

污蔑wūmiè · to slander贪污tānwū · to embezzle

Words with 染

传染chuánrǎn · to infect染rǎn · to dye感染gǎnrǎn · to infect

More words: Common Verbs

推tuī · to push推迟tuīchí · to postpone脱tuō · to shed网球wǎngqiú · tennis无wú · not to have修理xiūlǐ · to repair吸引xīyǐn · to attract相反xiāngfǎn · opposite

FAQs

污染 (wūrǎn) means “to pollute” or “to contaminate (lit. and fig.)”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it wūrǎn: wū with a 1st tone, then rǎn with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 污染 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type wuran with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 污染 from the suggestions. Typing wuran into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
污染 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.