{"id":6117,"date":"2015-10-20T06:51:03","date_gmt":"2015-10-20T06:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/?p=6117"},"modified":"2024-07-20T08:10:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-20T08:10:49","slug":"chinese-characters-learning-the-three-drops-of-water-radical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/chinese-characters-learning-the-three-drops-of-water-radical.html","title":{"rendered":"Mastering Chinese Characters Through Radicals &#8211; Understanding the Three Drops of Water Radical"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A radical in Chinese is a collection of brush strokes that convey a certain meaning. Radicals combine to form characters, and recognizing a particular radical can often hint at the character\u2019s meaning. Some radicals can even stand alone as characters themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A great example of the radical system is the &#8220;water&#8221; radical. It is the second most common radical, and when combined with others, it forms almost a quarter of the Chinese dictionary! The Kangxi Dictionary lists 1,595 characters under the &#8220;water&#8221; radical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The &#8220;water&#8221; character looks like \u6c34. In the Chinese &#8220;Five Phases&#8221; system and the Bagua trigrams, this symbol represents the element Water. However, in most Chinese characters, it is simplified to \u201c\u6c35\u201d, a radical known as &#8220;three drops of water&#8221; (\u4e09\u70b9\u6c34 \u2013 s\u0101n di\u01cen shu\u01d0), symbolizing flowing water. \u201c\u6c35\u201d usually appears on the left side of a character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of these characters have meanings related to water or liquid. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u6cb3 (h\u00e9) \u2013 river<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u6d77 (h\u01cei) \u2013 sea<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u6ce1 (p\u00e0o) \u2013 bubble, foam<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u6db2 (y\u00e8) \u2013 liquid<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u6d6a (l\u00e0ng) \u2013 wave<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u6d6c (l\u01d0, h\u01ceil\u01d0) \u2013 nautical mile<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u6e05 (q\u012bng) \u2013 clear, transparent (like water)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=index-798.html><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"845\" height=\"449\" src=index-798.html alt=\"Three Drops Of Water\" class=\"wp-image-6118\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Three-Drops-Of-Water.png 845w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Three-Drops-Of-Water-300x159.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 845px) 100vw, 845px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Fun Fact<\/strong>: The character \u6e34 (k\u011b), which means &#8220;thirsty,&#8221; has the &#8220;water&#8221; radical, while \u559d (h\u0113), which means &#8220;to drink,&#8221; has the &#8220;mouth&#8221; radical. If you&#8217;re thirsty (\u6e34), you better use your mouth to drink (\u559d)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=index-799.html alt=\"he\" class=\"wp-image-6119\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/he-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/he-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/he.jpg 845w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The original character \u6c34 is also used as a radical, typically placed at the bottom of a character, as in \u6cc9 (qu\u00e1n) \u2013 &#8220;spring.&#8221; However, its position is not fixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Quick Tip: <\/strong>Don\u2019t confuse the &#8220;three drops of water&#8221; radical with <a href=index-800.html>\u51ab (\u4e24\u70b9\u6c34 \u2013 li\u01ceng di\u01cen shu\u01d0 \u2013 &#8220;two drops of water&#8221;)<\/a>, a radical that means &#8220;ice.&#8221; The most common character using the &#8220;ice&#8221; radical is \u51b0 (b\u012bng), which means &#8220;ice,&#8221; &#8220;icy,&#8221; or &#8220;to freeze.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information on Chinese characters and radicals, explore these helpful resources:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=index-9.html>List of Chinese Characters &#8211; by Radicals<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=index-22.html>A Comprehensive Guide to Chinese Characters<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A radical in Chinese is a collection of brush strokes that convey a certain meaning. Radicals combine to form characters, and recognizing a particular radical can often hint at the character\u2019s meaning. Some radicals can even stand alone as characters themselves. A great example of the radical system is the &#8220;water&#8221; radical. It is the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[178,1],"tags":[77,86,122,93,78,80],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-6117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-characters","category-learn-mandarin-online","tag-beginner","tag-chinese-characters","tag-chinese-culture","tag-how-to-use","tag-intermediate","tag-self-study","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chinese Characters Learning: The \u201cThree Drops Of Water\u201d Radical<\/title>\n
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