Chinese character for water: 水 (shuǐ)
The Chinese character for water is 水 (shuǐ). It means water and is one of the five elements in Chinese philosophy. It appears in 喝水 (hē shuǐ, to drink water) and 山水 (shānshuǐ, landscape).
How 水 is built
水 is a pictograph of flowing water: the central stroke is the main current and the strokes on each side are ripples or smaller streams. When it is used as part of other characters it usually becomes three dots 氵 on the left, as in 河 (river), 海 (sea) and 湖 (lake). It is the same in simplified and traditional Chinese.
水 shuǐ · water
- 亅 — hook
Origin hint: A river running between two banks; compare 川 (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)
How 水 is used
Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 水 is identical in both scripts and well known; 山水 (mountains and water) is a classic two-character alternative.
Questions
What is the Chinese character for water?
水 (shuǐ) means “water”.
How do you pronounce 水?
水 is pronounced shuǐ.