河

Stroke order

河 (Kangxi radical 85, 水+5, 8 strokes, cangjie input 水一弓口 (EMNR), four-corner 3112₀, composition ⿰氵可)

• 𪷹, 菏

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 613, character 9
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 17245
• Dae Jaweon: page 1006, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1582, character 3
• Unihan data for U+6CB3

Historical forms of the character 河
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *ɡaːl) : semantic 氵 (“water”) + phonetic 可 (OC *kʰaːlʔ).

Originally particularly used for the Yellow River, with other rivers known as 水 (OC *qʰʷljilʔ). Later extended generally as a word for rivers in northern China but the influence of 江 (OC *kroːŋ, “Yangtze River; river in southern China”) has meant that modern usage tends to favor it for shorter rivers and creeks except in historical cases.

External etymology uncertain. Various hypotheses have been proposed:

• Sino-Tibetan. Cognate with Tibetan རྒལ (rgal, “to cross, to traverse”) (Coblin, 1986).
• A Mongolic loan. Compare Proto-Mongolic *gowl (“river”) > Mongolian ᠭᠣᠣᠯ (ɣool, “river”) (Norman and Mei, 1976). This was argued against in Zhang (1998).
• Derived from 湖 (OC *ɡaː, “lake”) (Matisoff, 1995).
• Takashima (2012), citing palaeographical and archaeological evidence, posits that the Yellow River's name stemmed from the shape, which resembles an adze handle 柯 (OC *kaːl), of a stretch spanning 500 to 600 kilometers "from Héjīn, Tóngguān to east of Zhèngzhōu".

河

1. Yellow River, Huang He

   Synonym: 黃河／黄河 (Huáng Hé)

   河南  ―  Hénán  ―  Henan (literally, “south of the Yellow River”)

   • 偃鼠飲河，不過滿腹。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     偃鼠饮河，不过满腹。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

     Yǎnshǔ yǐn Hé, bùguò mǎn fù.

     Moles drink from the He ; yet cannot overfill their bellies

   • 何謂六水？曰河水、赤水、遼水、黑水、江水、淮水。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     何谓六水？曰河水、赤水、辽水、黑水、江水、淮水。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Huainanzi, 2^nd century BCE

     Hé wèi liùshuǐ? Yuē héshuǐ, chìshuǐ, liáoshuǐ, hēishuǐ, jiāngshuǐ, huáishuǐ.

     What are the six rivers called? They are named He River, Red River, Liao River, Black River, Jiang River, and Huai River.

   1. (obsolete, Chinese mythology) Hebo; the god of the Yellow River
   2. (obsolete, Chinese mythology) Yellow River's Map; the plan of the Yellow River (mystic diagram said to have been supernaturally revealed)
2. (by extension) river, especially a smaller river, creek, or stream, as distinguished from 江 and 川 (Classifier: 條／条 m c; 道 m)

   河流  ―  héliú  ―  river

   小河  ―  xiǎo hé  ―  small river, stream

3. (obsolete) streamside; riverside
4. (literary, figurative) Milky Way
5. (chiefly Cantonese) Short for 河粉 (héfěn).

   乾炒牛河／干炒牛河 [Cantonese]  ―  gon¹ caau² ngau⁴ ho^4-2   ―  beef chow fun

6. a surname: He; Ho

• (river): (Wu) 河浜

• Wutunhua: xhe

• “河”, 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–

(Fifth grade kyōiku kanji)

1. river

• Go-on: が (ga)
• Kan-on: か (ka, Jōyō)
• Kun: かわ (kawa, 河, Jōyō)
• Nanori: こ (ko)、こう (kō)

From Middle Chinese 河 (MC ha).

河(か) • (ka) 

1. river

From Chinese 河 (hé). The pronunciation is most similar to Cantonese /hɔː²¹/, although most Japanese mahjong terminology is taken from early 20th Century Mandarin.

河(ホー) or 河(ホウ) • (hō) 

1. (mahjong) river: a player's discard pile

From Middle Chinese 河 (MC ha).

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

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

河

Wikisource

河 (eumhun 물 하 (mul ha))

1. hanja form^? of 하 (“river”)

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

河: Hán Việt readings: hà (寒(hàn)歌(ca)切(thiết))^{[1][2][3][4][5]}
河: Nôm readings: hà^[1][2][4][6]

河 • (hà)

1. chữ Hán form of hà.
   1. river
   2. Clipping of Hoàng Hà (“Yellow River”).
   3. an amassed object with the shape of a river
   4. a surname