河 hé — river, Yellow River · English

河

hé

river, Yellow River

At a glance · 河

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Evolution of the glyph

Five stages, from a sketch of the real object to regular script — tap a stage, drag the timeline, or play the animation.

Object sketchBefore writing · drawing what was seen
Oracle boneShang dynasty · c. 1300–1046 BCE
Seal scriptQin dynasty · 221–206 BCE
Clerical scriptHan dynasty · 206 BCE–220 CE
Regular scriptWei–Jin to Tang · c. 3rd–9th century CE

Object sketchBefore writing · drawing what was seenOracle boneShang dynasty · c. 1300–1046 BCESeal scriptQin dynasty · 221–206 BCEClerical scriptHan dynasty · 206 BCE–220 CERegular scriptWei–Jin to Tang · c. 3rd–9th century CE

河字小篆从水可声，为形声字；本义为黄河，后泛称河流。甲骨文未见。

What the sketch shows

Origins & notes

河本义为黄河，后泛指河流。

Structure

形声字，左部『水』为意符，右部『可』为声符。

At a glance

Pinyinhé

Radical氵

Strokes8

UnicodeU+6CB3

Character type形声

Theme地理

Six languages, one character

Each page offers hreflang versions; switching language keeps the glyphs and meanings aligned.

English river, Yellow River He is a phonetic-semantic character meaning the Yellow River and, by extension, any river.

Français rivière, fleuve Jaune He est un caractère phonético-sémantique signifiant le fleuve Jaune puis toute rivière.

Español río, río Amarillo He es un carácter fonosemántico que significa el río Amarillo y luego cualquier río.

العربية نهر، النهر الأصفر خه حرف صوتي دلالي يعني النهر الأصفر ثم أي نهر.

Русский река, Хуанхэ Хэ — фоносемантический знак, означающий Хуанхэ, а затем любую реку.

Common words

河流hé liúriver
黄河huáng héYellow River

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