游泳

Étymologie et composants

The Chinese word 游泳 (yóuyǒng) for "swimming" is composed of two characters: 游 (yóu) and 泳 (yǒng). The character 游 originally meant "to walk" or "to travel", and it is often used in the sense of "to travel for pleasure" or "to go on an excursion". The character 泳 originally meant "to float" or "to drift", and it is often used in the sense of "to swim" or "to bathe". The combination of these two characters creates the word 游泳, which specifically refers to the activity of swimming.The word 游泳 has been used in Chinese for centuries, and it is found in many classical texts. For example, the famous Chinese poet Li Bai wrote a poem about swimming in the Yangtze River, in which he used the word 游泳 to describe the experience of swimming in the river. The word 游泳 is also used in modern Chinese, and it is the most common word used to refer to the activity of swimming.