水 (shuǐ): water

Meanings

1 water

Characters

水

shuǐ

water; liquid

Examples

我要喝水。

Wǒ yào hē shuǐ.

I want to drink water.

请给我一杯水。

Qǐng gěi wǒ yì bēi shuǐ.

Please give me a glass of water.

Tips

culture

In China, people typically drink hot water (热水) rather than cold water. If you ask for water at a restaurant, you'll likely get hot water unless you specify 冷水.

memory

The character 水 is a pictograph that originated from a drawing of flowing water. It's also the radical 氵 (three dots of water) that appears in many water-related characters like 河 (river), 海 (sea), 洗 (wash).

Components

pictograph

水 shuǐ

water

Pictograph of flowing water — a central streamline with droplets curling off to either side. The oracle-bone form was even more literal: a wavy line with splash-marks. 水 is Kangxi radical 85 and parent of the 氵 left-side form that appears in hundreds of liquid/river chars (河, 海, 江, 流).