‘水沟’ (shuǐ gōu) literally combines ‘水’ (shuǐ), meaning ‘water’, and ‘沟’ (gōu), meaning ‘ditch’ or ‘trench’. Together, they refer to a narrow channel built to carry away rainwater, wastewater, or surface runoff—commonly found alongside roads, in courtyards, or near buildings. It’s a functional, utilitarian feature of urban and rural infrastructure, often made of concrete, stone, or simply dug earth.

This word is neutral in register and used in everyday speech and writing when describing physical environments, construction, or weather-related conditions (e.g., flooding). While it may occasionally appear in idiomatic expressions (like 水沟里翻船, ‘to fail at something simple’), its primary use is literal and concrete. It’s distinct from natural waterways like rivers (河) or streams (溪), as 水沟 is always human-made and relatively small in scale.