氵

sāndiǎnshuǐ

radical variant

Meanings

1 three drops of water radical (variant of 水)
2 left form of the water radical, Kangxi #85

Tips

usage

Three slanted dots stacked on the left edge of a character - that's the most reliable water cue in Chinese. 氵 marks rivers, drinking, washing, liquids, anything wet. The pedagogical name sāndiǎnshuǐ literally means 'three-dot water'. Never written alone; the standalone form is 水.

history

氵 is the calligraphic compression of 水. The four streaming strokes of full 水 collapsed into three diagonal dots so the radical could share horizontal space with a phonetic on the right. The dot pattern still suggests droplets falling, preserving the visual logic of the parent.

usage

Water/liquid cue: 河 (river), 海 (sea), 喝 (drink), 洗 (wash), 没 (sink/not have), 酒 (alcohol), 汤 (soup), 油 (oil).

Radical

Water Kangxi #85

Pictograph of a flowing stream with droplets on either side. The most productive of the natural-element radicals — strong clue that a character involves liquid, rivers, washing, or wetness. Appears as 氵 (three drops) on the left of hundreds of characters: 河, 海, 江, 流, 洗, 油, 汗. The bottom variant 氺 sits under characters like 泰 and 黎.

Forms

水 shuǐ

Default 9 characters

氵 sāndiǎnshuǐ

Left 296 characters

氺 shuǐ

Bottom 3 characters

Used in

View all 296 →

Showing 6 of 296 · left form 氵 of 水

没 méi

have not · not

没 mò

to drown · to sink; to submerge

活 huó

to live; alive; living · work; job

派 pài

tributary; branch of a river · clique; school; group; faction

法 fǎ

law; legal · method; way

滚 gǔn

to boil (of water) · to roll; to tumble

Stroke Order