2indexing radical for water-channel and stream characters
Tips
history
巛 is an archaic form of 川 (chuān, river) - three wavy strokes representing parallel currents. In modern Chinese 川 carries the standalone meaning, while 巛 survives only as a Kangxi indexing radical for characters with bent or zigzag elements.
usage
You will mostly meet 巛 inside characters like 巡 (xún, to patrol) and 巢 (cháo, nest). It is sometimes printed as 川 in modern fonts when used as a top component.
Radical
RiverKangxi #47
Archaic three-stroke form of 川 depicting flowing water. As an indexing radical it gathers a small set of characters connected to streams or winding paths. Most water-class characters are filed under 水/氵 instead, leaving 巛 quite sparsely populated.
