汲 (jí): to draw (water)

Meanings

1 to draw (water)
2 to fetch (water from a well)

Characters

汲

jí

to draw water

Examples

她每天去井边汲水。

Tā měitiān qù jǐngbiān jí shuǐ.

She goes to the well every day to draw water.

我们应该汲取历史的教训。

Wǒmen yīnggāi jíqǔ lìshǐ de jiàoxun.

We should draw lessons from history.

Tips

usage

汲 alone means to draw water; the compound 汲取 extends this to absorbing knowledge, experience, or lessons — far more common in modern usage.

memory

The character shows water (氵) on the left and 及 (to reach) on the right — picture reaching down into water to pull it up.

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (radical form of 水)

Three-drops water on the left — indexes 汲 in the liquid family with 河, 池, 沉. 汲 means to draw water from a well — to pull a bucket up through depth — so the radical names what is being lifted. The compound captures the whole action: water + the reaching hand of 及.

phonetic

及 jí

to reach; to attain

Right side 及 supplies the sound jí exactly. 及 itself pictures a hand reaching out to grab a fleeing person from behind — the original semantic gives 'reach, catch up to' — and that grasping gesture also reinforces 汲's well-rope action. Same phonetic in 极 extreme, 级 grade, 圾 trash.