Meaning & readings
run alongside, follow along, run along, lie along
Origin
This character combines the water radical on the left, which marks it as related to water or flowing, with a sound hint on the right that suggests the pronunciation. The idea of water running or flowing alongside something naturally led to the meaning of "running along" or "following alongside." Think of how a river runs along the edge of land—the water element captures that sense of following a path or boundary. Over time, the character extended to mean anything that goes alongside or follows along, whether water or not.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Components
- 氵
- 㕣
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
- 沿う そう to run along; to run beside
- 沿海 えんかい sea along the coast; coastal waters
- 沿革 えんかく history; development
- 沿岸 えんがん coast; shore
- 沿線 えんせん places alongside a railway line, bus route, major thoroughfare, etc.
- 沿道 えんどう roadside; wayside
- 沿い ぞい along (a river, coast, railway, etc.); on (e.g. a street)
- 沿って そって along; by
Reference
- Strokes
- 8
- Kangxi radical
- 85
- Grade
- Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #1121 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+06CBF