HSK 6 · Nature

支流 zhīliú “tributary (river)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 支流 means

  1. tributary (river)
  2. minor aspect

How to say 支流

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale支zhī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale流liú2nd tone, rising

支流 in a sentence

  1. 亚马逊河有很多支流。

    Yàmǎxùn Hé yǒu hěn duō zhīliú.

    The Amazon has many tributaries.

    Sentence #8739379 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 支流 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 支 (zhī) with each of its parts in a different colour
支zhīto support
  • 十ten · shí
  • 又again · yòu
The character 流 (liú) with each of its parts in a different colour
流liúto flow
  • 氵water form of 水 · shuǐMeaning part
  • 㐬pennantSound part

氵 hints at the meaning (water); 㐬 () hints at the sound. Compare it with liú.

How to write 支流

支 4 strokes · 流 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 支流

Words with 支

支持zhīchí · to support支zhī · measure word for pens支票zhīpiào · cheque支撑zhīchēng · to support支配zhīpèi · to control支援zhīyuán · to support开支kāizhī · expenses支出zhīchū · expenditure支柱zhīzhù · pillar

Words with 流

交流jiāoliú · to exchange流利liúlì · fluent流行liúxíng · popular流泪liúlèi · to shed tears流传liúchuán · to spread轮流lúnliú · to alternate流露liúlù · to reveal流浪liúlàng · to wander一流yìliú · first-class流通liútōng · to circulate

More words: Nature & Environment

照耀zhàoyào · to shine on沼泽zhǎozé · swamp蒸发zhēngfā · to evaporate枝zhī · branch种植zhòngzhí · to plant种子zhǒngzi · seed株zhū · (measure word for plants and trees)庄稼zhuāngjia · crops

FAQs

支流 (zhīliú) means “tributary (river)” or “minor aspect”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it zhīliú: zhī with a 1st tone, then liú with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 支流 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhiliu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 支流 from the suggestions. Typing zhiliu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
支流 is an HSK 6 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.