洄 (huí): to flow back; to swirl (of wate…

Meanings

1 to flow back; to swirl (of water); an eddy
2 to go against the current (literary)

Characters

洄

huí

to swirl back; eddy; go upstream

Examples

河流转弯处，水打着回洄。

Héliú zhuǎnwān chù, shuǐ dǎ zhe huíhuí.

Where the river bends, the water swirls into eddies.

鲑鱼洄游而上，逆流产卵。

Guīyú huíyóu ér shàng, nìliú chǎnluǎn.

The salmon swim upstream against the current to spawn.

Tips

usage

Common in 洄游 — the biology term for fish migration (salmon, eels) swimming back upstream against the current. The base image is water turning back on itself in a whirl.

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (left-side radical)

Three-drop water radical, side-form of 水. It fixes the meaning on moving water — here water curling back into an eddy. Same family as 流 to flow, 漩 whirlpool, 波 wave.

phonetic

回 huí

to return; to turn back

Right side 回 gives both the sound huí and the meaning: a swirl is water 'returning,' turning back on itself. The nested-square shape itself pictures something spiraling inward.