江

Usage notes

The word that referred to a body of flowing water such as stream, creek or river was represented in early Chinese with 水 (shuǐ), a pictograph showing water flowing between two banks, similar to the form of the character 川 (chuān).

In early times, specialized characters were created to represent words that described particular bodies of water. These words often contain the water radical (氵), which was originally written in the same way that the original form of 水 was written.

In early texts, the term 河 (hé) usually referred directly to the 黃河／黄河 (Huáng Hé, “Yellow River”). Over time, 河 became used as a generalized term for rivers that were bigger than a stream. The term is sometimes associated with an 'older' body of flowing water that has a smaller volume. Similarly, 江 was originally the name of the Yangtze River which is a relatively larger body of flowing water. 江 became the standard bearer for a slightly differentiated category of river. It was then applied broadly as a generic term.

Among Chinese users, there are commonly held beliefs about the differences between these near synonyms that may not be reflected in an ordinary dictionary. 江 are often thought of as the larger rivers that are usually in southern China, while 河 are usually rivers with comparatively lesser volume or that are artificial and are usually found in northern China (and may be considered culturally 'older'). These two terms are often the subject of attempts at comparisons. Terms for smaller bodies of flowing water include: 川 (chuān) which are usually mid-sized or relatively small rivers, 溪 (xī) and 流 (liú) which are creeks, streams, brooks, and gullies, and 水 (shuǐ) which are streams (but can also be medium-sized tributary rivers like the Han River (漢水／汉水 (Hànshuǐ)). There are many exceptions to these patterns owing to inconsistent usage of the relevant terms in different forms of Chinese and English over time, and also due to cultural attitudes about proper usage of the terms.

See also

• 河 (hé)
• 川 (chuān)