Water Radical (氵) — Characters, Meaning and Practice Worksheet
氵 is the water radical. It appears in 100 of the most common Chinese characters — these 12 are the ones worth learning first, and the worksheet below gives every one of them a pinyin header, a stroke-by-stroke model and blank Tianzige grids to copy into.
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What does 氵 mean?
Water radical · 水 shuǐ · 4 strokes · water
As a radical it is called 三点水 (sān diǎn shuǐ).
It usually appears on the left (氵), or at the bottom (水, 氺). The Origin column below shows what each character's parts do — many take their meaning from the radical, some take their sound from the other half.
水 itself: A river running between two banks; compare 川
12 common characters with 氵
Ranked by how often they appear in real written Chinese. Every character links to its own page with a stroke-order animation and example words.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 没 | méi | not | 殳 supplies the sound |
| 法 | fǎ | law; method, way, how-to | The course 去 followed by a stream 氵 |
| 活 | huó | live, survive | 舌 supplies the sound |
| 流 | liú | flow | 㐬 supplies the sound |
| 清 | qīng | clear | 青 supplies the sound |
| 求 | qiú | beg, request, strike for, seek | |
| 深 | shēn | deep | Deep 罙 water 氵 |
| 治 | zhì | rule, govern; treat, cure; control, harness; punish | A structure 台 that directs the flow of water 氵 |
| 满 | mǎn | full | 㒼 supplies the sound |
| 济 | jì | used in place names associated with the Ji River 济水; surname Ji | 齐 supplies the sound |
| 海 | hǎi | sea | 每 supplies the sound |
| 消 | xiāo | disappear, cause to disappear | 肖 supplies the sound |
Related Radicals
- 欠Lack radical · qiàn13 common characters · to owe; to lack; to yawn
- 止Stop radical · zhǐ9 common characters · to stop; a foot
- 殳Spear radical · shū9 common characters · a spear; a weapon
- 火Fire radical · huǒ35 common characters · fire
- 牛Ox radical · niú11 common characters · ox, cattle
- 犭Dog radical · quǎn25 common characters · dog
Create Your Own Chinese Worksheet
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