Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

river

Chinese: 河流。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “he” becomes a different word in each tone. 河 is the 2nd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.

Stroke Order

Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.

Common Words

  • 河流hé liúriver
  • 运河yùn hécanal
  • 河畔hé pànriverside; river plain
  • 大河dà hélarge river (esp the Yellow River)
  • 河道hé dàoriver course; river channel

Example Sentence

这条河的水又清又凉。Zhè tiáo hé de shuǐ yòu qīng yòu liáng.The water of this river is clear and cool.

Zhèthistiáostripriver (CL:条,道)deofshuǐShui ethnic groupyòuagainqīng(of water etc) clearyòuagainliángcool

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

The water radical 氵 (meaning) plus 可 (kě, sound). It first named the Yellow River and now means ‘river’.

A way to remember it

Water (氵) + the sound 可 — a river.

Easy to confuse with

  • jiāng‘River’: also water (氵), but with 工 as the sound.