川

Stroke order

Stroke order

See images of
Radical 47 川

川 (Kangxi radical 47, 巛+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 中中中 (LLL), four-corner 2200₀, composition ⿲丿丨丨)

• 𠆯, 𠯀, 圳, 汌, 𦘶, 杊, 𤆑, 㸪, 玔, 甽, 𥃹, 𥐣, 紃(𬘓), 𧈶, 𡔠, 訓(训), 𮙰, 䡅, 𫶨, 𪩢, 釧(钏), 馴(驯), 𩵙, 𩾧, 𦤸, 順(顺), 𡵅, 𡿫, 𪯠, 𣅕, 氚, 𫇨, 𤽃, 𥫨, 𥄊, 𥬂, 𪡢, 𩭁, 𨤅

• つ (Hiragana character derived from Man'yōgana)
• ツ (Katakana character derived from Man'yōgana)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 323, character 23
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 8673
• Dae Jaweon: page 624, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 32, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5DDD

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 川 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 川 (Cantonese)

Historical forms of the character 川
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States		Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) – compare 水 (OC *qʰʷljilʔ), 川, and 𡿧.

The Middle and Old Chinese reconstruction of this word is phonologically problematic (STEDT):

• Karlgren (1957) notes that the Middle Chinese form is irregular based on evidence from Shijing rimes.
• Based on velar contacts in the same phonetic series, e.g. 巛, 甽 and 訓, Baxter (1992) and Schuessler (2007) reconstruct the word with a velar initial (Handel, 1998; Sagart, 1999), which undergoes irregular palatalization in the development to Middle Chinese (Baxter, 1992).
• Based on other characters in the same phonetic series, e.g. 順 and 馴, Sagart (1999), and later, Baxter and Sagart (2014), reconstructs 川 with a lateral initial and suggests that only a *t- prefix would account for the Middle Chinese initial /t͡ɕʰ/.

Schuessler (2007) relates this word to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kl(j)u(ŋ/k) (“river; valley”), whence 江 (OC *kroːŋ, “river”), 谷 (OC *kloːɡ, “valley”), Tibetan ཀླུང (klung, “river”), Burmese ချောင်း (hkyaung:, “stream”). STEDT notes that this does not account for the *-n coda.

STEDT instead compares it to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *m-t(w)əj-n ~ m-ti-s (“water; fluid; liquid; river; soak; spit”), whence 涕 (OC *tʰiːlʔ, “tears”), Proto-Kuki-Chin *tuj (“water; fluid; liquid”), Chepang तीः (“water; rain; river”); this depends on a reconstruction with a dental initial and requires positing an *‑n suffix not present in Tibeto-Burman languages.

川

1. river; stream; brook

   川流不息  ―  chuānliúbùxī  ―  to flow continuously

   • 子在川上，曰：「逝者如斯夫！不舍晝夜。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     子在川上，曰：「逝者如斯夫！不舍昼夜。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Zǐ zài chuān shàng, yuē: “Shì zhě rúsī fū! Bù shè zhòuyè.”

     The Master standing by a stream, said, "It passes on just like this, not ceasing day or night!"

2. Short for 四川 (Sìchuān, “Sichuan Province, China”).

   川菜  ―  chuāncài  ―  Sichuan cuisine

3. plain

   平川  ―  píngchuān  ―  plain

4. road
5. (Taiwanese Mandarin) to boil briefly
6. Alternative form of 穿 (chuān)
7. (Internet slang, Taiwanese Mandarin) Short for 川普 (Chuānpǔ, “Donald Trump”).

   挺川  ―  tǐngchuān  ―  to support Donald Trump

   川粉  ―  chuānfěn  ―  Trumpster

8. a surname

• 河 (hé), 江 (jiāng), 溪 (xī)
• (to boil briefly): 汆 (cuān), 焯 (chāo), 灼 (zhuó), 涮 (shuàn)

• “川”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

1. river

• Go-on: せん (sen, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: せん (sen, Jōyō)
• Kun: かわ (kawa, 川, Jōyō)^{←かは (kafa, 川, historical)}
• Nanori: か (ka)、こ (ko)、さわ (sawa)

From Old Japanese 川 (kapa),^[1] from Proto-Japonic *kapa.^[2]

First attested in the Kojiki of 712 CE.^[3]

• (Tokyo) かわ (Odaka – )^[4]
• IPA^(key):

• (Kagoshima) IPA^(key):

川(かわ) • (kawa) ^{←かは (kafa)?}

1. river, stream, brook

• 河(か)川(せん) (kasen)

From Middle Chinese 川 (MC tsyhwen).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
• Phonetic hangul:

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

川

Wikisource

川 (eumhun 내 천 (nae cheon))

1. hanja form^? of 천 (“river; stream”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

川: Hán Nôm readings: xuyên

1. chữ Hán form of xuyên (“river”).