汶 (Wèn) · Wen (river name)

Meanings

1 Wen (river name)
2 Wen River (in northwest Sichuan, also Shandong)
3 (in compounds) place-name element

Characters

汶

Wèn

Wen River; place-name element

Examples

HSK 4

汶水流过山东中部。

Wènshuǐ liúguò Shāndōng zhōngbù.

The Wen River flows through central Shandong.

HSK 6

汶川位于四川省西部。

Wènchuān wèiyú Sìchuān Shěng xībù.

Wenchuan is located in western Sichuan Province.

Tips

culture

Best known today as part of 汶川, the Sichuan county devastated by the magnitude-8.0 earthquake on May 12, 2008 - over 69,000 dead. The 汶川大地震 ('Great Wenchuan Earthquake') is a generational reference point in modern China. Classically, 汶 also names a river in Shandong used in 《尚书》 to refer poetically to the state of Qi (齐国).

usage

Almost exclusively a place-name element (汶川, 汶河, 汶上). Not used as a standalone word in modern speech.

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (radical form of 水)

Three-drops water radical on the left - the side-form of 水. Indexes 汶 in the river-name family alongside 江, 河, 淮, 渭. 汶 specifically names the Wen River in Shandong, source of the Wenshui tributary system. Almost every river name in China carries this radical.

phonetic

文 wén

writing; culture

Right 文 supplies the sound - wén shifts to wèn, only a tone change. 文 itself depicts crossed lines (originally tattoo / pattern marks), unrelated to the river's meaning. Same phonetic anchors 蚊 mosquito, 纹 stripe, 紊 disorderly - all reading wén or wèn.