字の旅3,000 years in four forms
Oracle bone · ShangShang · c. 1200 BCE甲903 合34165
Oracle bone: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Bronze: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The oracle bone, bronze and seal stages show 水, not 氺 itself.
部首Radical · in Nature & Elements
氺 water
したみず shitamizu
5 strokesRadical of 3 kanjiPart of 6
Origin · sourced
Pictogram象形
Pictogram (象形) of water flowing; sometimes written as the variant 氺 (e.g., 泰, 录, and 黎). Next to a character, it is compressed and stylized into 氵 (which is unrelated to 冫).
Source: Wiktionary, 水 (rev. 94507192), the entry for the full form, CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Cool water from below! Imagine a clear spring bubbling up beneath a character, providing the life-force needed to grow. While it looks slightly different from the standard "water," it brings the same cooling and nurturing energy. When you see it at the bottom, think of a deep well or a hidden stream flowing under the surface.”
Where it sits in a kanji
Indicates water, fluids, nurturing energy, the act of seeking (like finding a spring), or a state of peace and replenishment.
What it grows into
- 泰peacefulタイ
大sound + 廾 + 氺
Phono-semantic compound · Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Every kanji with 氺 as its radical
All 3 kanji