Question

河 かわ river 2 663 8 85 みず・したみず・さんずい 形声 Phonetic A river CAN exist only if there is WATER.

Accepted Answer

カ かっ, こ, こう 河川(かせん): rivers運河(うんが): canal; waterway 5 水: water可: can; passable; mustn't; should not; do not 水 4 (none) river I kept confusing this with stream. My Japanese friend said that to him this is for an artificial river. Looking at kanji compounds with this there are two that struck me: One is the Yellow River in China (黄河), and the other is the Milky Way (銀河). Now I either think of the Little Engine that could dragging a bunch of stuff down a river in China and polluting it (so it turned yellow) or I see the Little Engine that Could flying across the sky making the Milky Way.

Kanji	河
Onyomi	カ
Kunyomi	かわ
Nanori	かっ, こ, こう
English	river
Examples	河川(かせん): rivers 運河(うんが): canal; waterway
JLPT Level	2
Jouyou Grade	5
Frequency	663
Components	水: water 可: can; passable; mustn't; should not; do not
Number of Strokes	8
Kanji Radical	水
Radical Number	85
Radical Strokes	4
Radical Reading	みず・したみず・さんずい
Traditional Form	(none)
Classification	形声 Phonetic
Keyword	river
Koohii Story 1	A river CAN exist only if there is WATER.
Koohii Story 2	I kept confusing this with stream. My Japanese friend said that to him this is for an artificial river. Looking at kanji compounds with this there are two that struck me: One is the Yellow River in China (黄河), and the other is the Milky Way (銀河). Now I either think of the Little Engine that could dragging a bunch of stuff down a river in China and polluting it (so it turned yellow) or I see the Little Engine that Could flying across the sky making the Milky Way.

River I China Milky Engine 河 カ かわ

River I China Milky Engine 河カかわ