DIU-1

(‘diu’ in the first tone)

This is a morpheme of the Chinese language that has comparatively few meanings. There are only two characters that go with it:

丢 and 铥 (the radioactive metal thulium) 

丢 = to lose, to throw away

The two-character version for ‘to lose’ is:

丢失 = diu(1)shi(1) = to lose

The character 失 by itself also means 'to lose'. However, there are some 90 standard characters that are spoken 'shi', and many have a dozen or more different meanings. Thus, even with different tones, single-character meanings in spoken Chinese are often difficult to identify. The morpheme 'diu'is much less ambivalent. But if a 'to lose' meaning is to be conveyed by using 失 without 丢, the following two are better than just 失 alone:

失掉 = shi(1)diau(4) = to lose

失去 = shi(1)qu(4) = to lose

不要丢了... = Bu(4) yao(4) diu(1) le(-)... = Don't lose...

Both 丢 and 失 are used only when specific items have gone missing. If the intention is to express that one lost money in business, or that certain transactions are to one's disadvantage, 亏 = kui(1) is used.

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禁丢垃圾 = Jin(4) diu(1) la(1)ji(1) = Prohibited to throw away rubbish