The character 水 (shuǐ): water

A river surface seen close up fills the frame: bands of blue and turquoise water, white crests of foam, and at the bottom grey and beige pebbles under clear shallows. In the centre the character 水 stands in dark brown: an upright stem that ends in a hook to the left, a single bent stroke on its left that begins with a short horizontal then sweeps down to the lower left, and one broad stroke falling to the right.

Pronunciation: shuǐ
Strokes: 4
Level: HSK 1
Radical: 水

What it means

water; (after a name) ... River; to swim (used mostly in 會水|会水[hui4shui3] and 水性[shui3xing4]); (coll.) lacking in substance; shoddy; (bound form) additional cost; extra income; classifier for washings of a garment

Where its shape comes from

A watercourse seen from above: a vein down the middle for the current, and on either side of it the eddies that keep it company. Xu Shen describes the graph as "many waters flowing together". It is a pictogram, that is, a picture of the thing itself rather than a compound built from a meaning and a sound.

Source: Xu Shen, Shuowen Jiezi (121 CE); the Chinese University of Hong Kong character database.

A way to remember it

A shaft down the middle for the current, and the splashes around it: TWO strokes on the left, only ONE on the right. That lopsidedness is what gets missed when you write in a hurry. The hook at the foot of the shaft flicks away to the left.

This is a memory aid, not the origin of the character.

Words it appears in

水果 shuǐ guǒ · HSK 1 fruit; CL:個|个[ge4]
水平 shuǐ píng · HSK 3 level (of achievement etc); standard; horizontal
矿泉水 kuàng quán shuǐ · HSK 4 mineral water; CL:瓶[ping2],杯[bei1]
开水 kāi shuǐ · HSK 5 boiled water; boiling water
胶水 jiāo shuǐ · HSK 5 glue
水泥 shuǐ ní · HSK 6 cement; CL:袋[dai4]

Writing it

See the stroke order of 水, animated stroke by stroke.