流

Left water radical — three strokes, the compressed left-side form of 水. Carries the meaning: anything liquid, any movement of water. Same radical groups 流 with 河 (river), 海 (sea), 江 (river), 泪 (tear), 沟 (ditch) — the entire wet-and-flowing family.

Right phonetic 㐬 — supplies the sound (liú, exact match). Pictographically depicts a baby being washed away in water, head-down with hair streaming, the very picture of 'drift, flow.' Adds a faint semantic flavour reinforcing the water radical: not just any water but moving, carrying, sweeping water. Same phonetic in 硫 (sulphur), 琉 (lapis lazuli), 梳 (comb).