渠
2 readings · tap one to hear it
(artificial) stream; canal; drain; ditch (CL:條|条[tiao2]); (literary) big; great; (dialect) he; she; him; her; (old) rim of a carriage wheel; felloe
- HSK 3.0
- Level 6
- Old HSK
- Level 6
- Strokes
- 11
- Radical
- 水 +9
- Structure
- Top–bottom 上下
- Traditional
- 渠
- Common rank
- #2,090
- Unicode
- U+6E20
Sound it out + = · + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How 渠 is formed
Ideographic compound (会意字)
A ditch 洰 made of wood 木; 洰 also provides the pronunciation
How to remember it
canal · Heisig RSH #2683
水 water + giant + 木 tree
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 渠
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 尾水渠道 | outflow channel | |
| 五家渠市 | Wujyachü shehiri (Wujiaqu city) or Wǔjiāqú subprefecture level city in Ili Kazakh autonomo… | |
| 水到渠成 | lit. where water flows, a canal is formed (idiom); fig. when conditions are right, success… | |
| 石渠县 | Sêrxü, a county in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 甘孜藏族自治州[Gan1 zi1 Zang4 zu2 Zi4 zhi4… | |
| 五家渠 | Wujyachü shehiri (Wujiaqu city) or Wǔjiāqú subprefecture level city in Ili Kazakh autonomo… | |
| 排水渠 | drainage | |
| 渠县 | Qu County or Quxian, a county in Dazhou City 達州市|达州市[Da2 zhou1 Shi4], Sichuan | |
| 水渠 | canal | |
| 渠道 | irrigation ditch; (fig.) channel; avenue | |
| 石渠 | Sêrxü county (Tibetan: ser shul rdzong) in Garze Tibetan autonomous prefecture 甘孜藏族自治州, Si… | |
| 石渠 | stone channel (e.g. drain) | |
| 明渠 | (open, uncovered) water channel; canal | |
| 河渠 | rivers and canals; waterway | |
| 石渠阁议 | cabinet meeting in 51 BC that established the five classics of Confucianism 五經|五经[Wu3 jing… | |
| 干渠 | trunk canal | |
| 灵渠 | Lingqu, canal in Xing'an county 興安|兴安[Xing1 an1], Guangxi, built in 214 BC to link the Yan… | |
| 石渠阁 | cabinet meeting in 51 BC that established the five classics of Confucianism 五經|五经[Wu3 jing… | |
| 夏敬渠 | Xia Jingqu (1705-1787), Qing novelist, author of monumental novel 野叟曝言[Ye3 sou3 Pu4 yan2] … | |
| 暗渠 | underground water channel; covered ditch; culvert | |
| 郑国渠 | Zhengguo canal, a 150 km long irrigation canal in Shaanxi built in 264 BC |
Sound family
These characters use 渠 as their sound component — compare how they read.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 渠 sound part | ditch, gutter; canal, channel | |
| 磲 | giant clam, Tridacna gigas | |
| 蕖 | lotus |