沙滩

• Pinyin: shā tān
• Hanzi breakdown: 沙 = 氵(water) + 少 (few/scattered particles) = sand; 滩 = 氵(water) + 难 (phonetic component) = shallow beach or bank along water

Meaning

Sandy beach; a stretch of sand along the shore of a sea, lake, or river.

Common in travel, leisure, geography, and literature. 沙滩排球 (beach volleyball), 沙滩裤 (board shorts), 沙滩椅 (beach chair). In Chinese tourism, 沙滩 evokes summer vacation destinations. Distinct from 海边 (seaside) and 海岸 (coast) — 沙滩 specifically denotes the sandy surface.

Examples

1. 夕阳西下，她独自漫步在宽阔的沙滩上，望着海浪一次次轻拍岸边的礁石，思绪随浪潮起伏飘远。 As the sun set, she walked alone along the wide beach, watching the waves lap again and again against the shore rocks as her thoughts drift with the tide.
2. 这片白色的沙滩曾被旅游杂志评为全国最美十大海滩之一，每到暑假便吸引大批游客前来游玩避暑。 This white-sand beach was once named by a travel magazine as one of the country’s ten most beautiful beaches, and every summer break it draws crowds of visitors to play and cool off.
3. 社区公益活动组织者号召志愿者定期清理沙滩垃圾，以保护这片珍贵的海岸生态环境不受人类活动的破坏。 Organizers of a community service program call on volunteers to regularly clean up beach litter to protect this precious coastal ecosystem from damage caused by human activity.

Usage Guide

Context: travel, nature, leisure, geography

Tone: positive to neutral

Do Say

• 清晨涨潮前是观察沙滩生物最佳的时机，退潮后留下的浅水洼中常常聚集着各类螃蟹、贝类和海星。(Before the morning tide comes in is the best time to observe beach life; the shallow rock pools left after the tide retreats often contain crabs, shellfish, and starfish.)
• 这段海岸的沙滩质地细腻洁白，与湛蓝的海水相映成趣，被摄影师们公认为日出时分取景拍摄的绝佳地点。(The beach along this stretch of coastline has a fine, white texture that contrasts beautifully with the azure sea, making it widely recognised by photographers as an ideal location for sunrise photography.)

Don't Say

• 他坐在沙滩中 — use 沙滩上 (on the beach), not 沙滩中 (in the beach); 上 is the natural spatial particle for surface areas like beaches and floors

Origin & History

沙 = 氵(water) + 少 (few/scattered) = sand (scattered particles near water); 滩 = 氵(water) + 难 (difficult, phonetic tān) = shallow sandy area by water

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal