Meaning
to flow; to spread; to circulate; to move
Chinese: 流动、传播或流派。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “liu” becomes a different word in each tone. 流 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
- 流行liú xíng(of a contagious disease etc) to spread; to propagate; (of a style of clothing, song etc) popular; fashionable
- 流利liú lìfluent
- 交流jiāo liúto exchange; exchange; communication; interaction
- 潮流cháo liútide; current; trend
- 流泪liú lèito shed tears
Example Sentence
小河的水静静地流着。Xiǎo hé de shuǐ jìng jìng de liú zhe.The water of the little river flows quietly.
小河Xiǎo hécreek的deof水shuǐShui ethnic group静jìngstill静jìngstill地de(adverb marker)流liúto flow着zhe(ongoing action)。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The water radical 氵 (meaning) plus a sound element: water moving along — ‘to flow / a current’.
A way to remember it
Water (氵) on the move — to flow.
Easy to confuse with
- 没‘Not have / to sink’: also a water character (氵), but with a different right side.