Definitions

shù a river in Shantung province

Etymology phono-semantic

water

Semantic: Phonetic:

About

is a proper noun naming the Shu River, which flows through Shandong and Jiangsu provinces. It is a phono-semantic compound: the water radical provides the semantic category, while (shù) indicates the pronunciation. As a toponym, its meaning has always remained restricted to this river, without developing any metaphorical extensions. The character consists solely of these two components and has no simplified variant, keeping the same form across all writing standards.

Etymology Hide

Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern