About
The character 巛 is an ancient pictograph representing a river, its three wavy vertical strokes depicting flowing water. It is the original form of the modern character 川, literally illustrating a current between banks. While 巛 once stood alone as a noun for "river" or "stream", its use was later largely replaced by 川. The form 巛 endures specifically as a semantic radical in characters like 災 and 巡, where it signifies flowing water or water-related geography.
Etymology Hide
