Chinese character for river: 河 (hé)
The Chinese character for river is 河 (hé). It means river and appears in 河流 (héliú, rivers) and 黄河 (Huáng Hé, the Yellow River). For very large rivers such as the Yangtze, Chinese also uses 江 (jiāng).
How 河 is built
河 joins 氵, the three-dot water radical, with 可 (kě), which gives the sound. The water radical tells you the meaning is about water, and 可 tells you roughly how to say it. This sound-plus-meaning pattern is the most common way Chinese characters are built. In early texts 河 referred specifically to the Yellow River before it became the general word. It is identical in both scripts.
河 hé · river
- 氵shuǐ — water
- 可kě — may
- 丁dīng — male adult
- 口kǒu — mouth
- 冂 — frame
- 一 — horizontal stroke
Origin hint: 氵 gives the meaning, 可 gives the sound. (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)
How 河 is used
Other ways to say river
- 江 jiāng — large river, as in 长江 (the Yangtze)
Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 河 is identical in both scripts; 江 is the poetic choice for a great river.
Questions
What is the Chinese character for river?
河 (hé) means “river”.
How do you pronounce 河?
河 is pronounced hé.