Meanings
- datedSynonym of Sanshui: the Cantonese-derived name.
1938 Asia & The Pacific Nov.26[...]An area near Samshui, 30 miles from Canton, is heavily bombed by 50 planes to remove 12,000 Chinese troops.
2007, Rodney P. Carlisle, editor, Day by Day: The Thirties, volume 2, Facts on File, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 9003 more examples
From Canton my route lay up the West River, and as the steamer had proceeded direct from Hong Kong to Samshui, I took the opportunity of proceeding there, over the Canton-Samshui Railway. This is a portion of the Yueh-han, or Canton-Hankow, fine, though its point of departure from Canton is on the opposite side of the river to the main line.
1908, A. Gorton Angier, The Far East Revisited: Essays on Political, Commercial, Social, and General Conditions in Malaya, China, Korea and Japan, London: Witherby & Co., →OCLC, page 130At Samshui the Si Kiang is connected by a short channel with the Pei Kiang, most of whose water, however, continues to the sea in a separate system of distributaries, except when one or the other is in flood. The Pei Kiang flows southward across Kwangtung from the Nan Shan and at Samshui splits up into a ramifying system of channels which cover most of the Canton Delta. At present the Si Kiang flows directly to the sea along the western side of the Delta, although in previous times it doubtless spread its waters over a wider area.
1934, George Babock Cressey, China's Geographic Foundations: A Survey of the Land and Its People, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., →OCLC, page 349Three days later, near Samshui (twenty-five miles from Canton) the rest of the cargo was confiscated by another band of agents. The merchant’s firm complained to the local authorities, who sent the case up to the Governor.
1958, Arthur Waley, The Opium War through Chinese Eyes, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., published 1973, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 105Synonyms: Sanshui
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounSynonym of Sanshui: the Cantonese-derived name.
Origin
From the Postal Romanization of Cantonese 三水 (saam¹ seoi²), when the initial of the second syllable was still [ɕ] during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
Samshui. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Samshui
“Samshui.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Samshui. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Samshui,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Samshui.
Source: Samshui on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.