沉

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to submerge; to immerse; to sink; to keep down; to lower; to drop; deep; profound; heavy

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Formation & memory

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Ideographic compound (会意字)

An excessive 冗 amount of water 氵

Components 氵冗

profound · Heisig RSH #319

水 water + 冗 superfluous

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
石沉大海	shí chén dà hǎi	lit. to throw a stone and see it sink without trace in the sea (idiom); fig. to elicit no …
下沉市场	xià chén shì chǎng	the Chinese market, excluding first- and second-tier cities
海相沉积物	hǎi xiāng chén jī wù	oceanic sediment (geology)
沉不住气	chén bù zhù qì	to lose one's cool; to get impatient; unable to remain calm
沉重打击	chén zhòng dǎ jī	to hit hard
血色素沉积症	xuè sè sù chén jī zhèng	hemochromatosis
沉没成本	chén mò chéng běn	sunk cost (economics)
沉得住气	chén de zhù qì	to stay calm; to keep one's composure
沉着应战	chén zhuó yìng zhàn	to remain calm in the face of adversity (idiom)
沉积作用	chén jī zuò yòng	sedimentation (geology)
有沉有浮	yǒu chén yǒu fú	to have one's ups and downs
自沉	zì chén	to scuttle (a ship); to drown oneself
西沉	xī chén	(of the sun) to set
下沉	xià chén	to sink down
沉重	chén zhòng	heavy; hard; serious; critical
死气沉沉	sǐ qì chén chén	dead atmosphere; lifeless; spiritless
沉积物	chén jī wù	sediment
沉住气	chén zhù qì	to keep cool; to stay calm
沉船事故	chén chuán shì gù	a shipwreck; a sinking
故作深沉	gù zuò shēn chén	to play the profound thinker