jiāo shuǐ
glue
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我需要一些胶水来粘贴这个盒子。
wǒ xūyào yīxiē jiāoshuǐ lái niántiē zhège hézi.
I need some glue to stick this box.
胶水粘得很牢固。
jiāoshuǐ nián dé hěn láogù.
The glue sticks very firmly.
小心，胶水有毒。
xiǎoxīn, jiāoshuǐ yǒu dú.
Be careful, the glue is poisonous.
粘合剂 (nián hé jì)
adhesive
胶 (jiāo)
glue
溶剂 (róngjì)
solvent
稀释剂 (xīshìjì)
diluent
The Chinese word 胶水 (jiāo shuǐ) for glue literally means "glue water". It is composed of two characters: 胶 (jiāo), which means "glue", and 水 (shuǐ), which means "water". The character 胶 originally meant "tree resin", and was later used to refer to any type of glue. The character 水 is self-explanatory, and refers to the liquid state of glue. Together, the two characters 胶水 form a compound word that means "glue water", or simply "glue".
