📖 Meaning & Origin
The 水 radical represents water. In its standalone form it shows flowing water. As the side variant 氵 (three drops), it appears in dozens of kanji related to liquids, rivers, and water activities.
📚 Kanji by JLPT Level
✍️ Where it appears & how it changes shape
The standalone kanji is 水, but on the left it becomes 氵, called さんずい: three short strokes suggesting droplets. This side form is one of the most common sights in Japanese: 海, 泳, 池, 洗, 温, 港, 酒 all use it. A rarer bottom form 氺 exists but is not needed for JLPT.
🔍 Don't confuse it with
Two strokes rather than three. Called にすい, it means ice: 冷 (cold), 凍 (freeze). Missing the third stroke changes water into ice.
Also three strokes on the left, but arranged as a vertical line with two short strokes. It relates to walking and roads (行, 待).
📈 Beyond N5 — what comes next
| Kanji | Reading | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 洗 | せん / あらう | to wash | N4 |
| 池 | ち / いけ | pond | N4 |
| 温 | おん / あたたかい | warm | N3 |
| 港 | こう / みなと | port, harbour | N3 |
JLPT does not publish official kanji lists by level. These levels follow the commonly used reference lists and are a guide, not a guarantee.
🗣️ Words you will actually meet
🎯 How to use this radical in JLPT study
If you learn only one side form, learn さんずい. Its meaning holds almost without exception: liquid, or something done with liquid. On a reading section you can meet a completely unknown kanji with 氵 and still narrow the answer down usefully, which is exactly the skill the JLPT reading questions reward.
⚠️ The mistake I see most often
Writing さんずい with two strokes and accidentally producing the ice radical. In handwriting this turns 冷たい and 温かい into each other's opposites.
💡 Teacher's Memory Tip
Look for the three-drop sideways version 氵 on the left side of kanji — it almost always means 'involves water.' Like 海 (sea) and 泳 (swim).
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
The 水 radical means 'water.' As 氵 on the left side of a kanji, it signals that the kanji involves water, liquid, or fluid movement.
N5 kanji with 水/氵: 水 (water), 海 (sea — water + mother = nourishing water), 泳 (swim — water + body movement).
Find the three tiny dots (氵) on the left side of a kanji — that's water. Think of water splashing as you walk into a river.
Other N5 Radicals
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