川 (chuān) is a Chinese character meaning “river”. It takes 3 strokes.
Learn this character
Structure
川
Single unit
- 川 river · chuān unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+5DDD and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection
Memory aid
Follow the three flowing strokes of 川 and picture a river.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
3 strokes
In real words
- 山川shān chuānmountains and rivers川 = chuān
- 四川sì chuānSichuan川 = chuān
Go deeper
All readings
river
river; stream; plain between mountains
河流；也指山间或高原间的平地。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 山川shān chuānmountains and rivers川 = chuān
- 四川sì chuānSichuan川 = chuān
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 川 mean?
川 (chuān) means river; stream; plain between mountains.
How do you pronounce 川?
It is pronounced chuān.
How many strokes does 川 have?
3. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 川?
巛. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 川?
Common ones are 山川 and 四川. The reading of 川 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.