2  水 shuǐ/WATER

Vocabulary

Dialogue

Idiom

五湖四海 wǔhú -sìhǎi

Five lakes and four seas,all over the world

ORIGIN

The oracle bone script of this character consists of a curve with two shorter strokes on each side. The water radical 氵, representing three drops of water, is used to form many water-related characters, such as 河 (hé, river), 湖 (hú, lake), and 海 (hǎi, sea). West Lake, one of Zhejiang’s best-known scenic spots, is the romantic and legendary site of the love story between scholar Xu Xian and the demon Bai Suzhen, or White Snake.