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流

liú
#396 most
frequent character
flow, spread
verb

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

流 joins 氵 water as the meaning part with 㐬 liú, 'flowing out', which is both a picture part and the sound part. Its first meaning was 'the flowing of water'. From there it grew to 'fluid, flow', 'river', 'subsidiary', and 'to move'.

Drawn as: flowing out

流 as a component in other characters

sound1 character
鎏

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Example Sentences

水从山上流下来。
shuǐ cóng shānshàng liúxiàlái 。
Water flows down from the mountain.
风吹动着树叶，使它们流动。
fēng chuī dòng zháo shùyè ， shǐ tāmen liúdòng 。
The wind moves the leaves, causing them to flow.
时间就像流水一样。
shíjiān jiùxiàng liúshuǐ yīyàng 。
Time flows just like running water.

Words with similar meanings

流动liúdòng
to flow
More specific to movement, often used in contexts like 'flowing water' or 'flow of traffic'.
涌yǒng
to surge
Indicates a more forceful and sudden flow, commonly associated with waves or crowds.

Words Starting With 流

流利liú lì
fluent
流泪liú lèi
to shed tears
流行liú xíng
to spread; to rage (of contagious disease); popular; fashionable; prevalent; (math.) manifold
流传liú chuán
to spread; to circulate; to hand down
流氓liú máng
rogue; hoodlum; gangster; immoral behavior

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Homophones

刘liú
(classical) a type of battle-ax