How to Write 泷 (lóng) — Meaning “rapids; waterfall”

Picture a dragon swimming fiercely through a river, churning up strong rapids and splashing water everywhere. The shape of 泷 looks like that dragon emerging from the water, so you can remember it as "dragon water" creating powerful currents.

Write the left radical 氵 first: dot, dot, lift (3 strokes). Then the right side 龙: horizontal, left-falling stroke, hook, left-falling stroke, dot (5 strokes). A common mistake is to write the right side as 尤 (which lacks the extra stroke) instead of 龙—make sure the right side has exactly 5 strokes.

泷 has the dragon component 龙, while 㳄 uses 欠 (yawn or lack) and means saliva or flowing water, and 汊 uses 叉 (fork) and refers to a branch of a river. Visually, 泷 is wider and has more strokes on the right; semantically, 泷 specifically implies strong, rapid water, not just any water flow.

泷 is not a frequent character and mainly appears in place names, such as 泷水 (a river name) and 泷冈 (a location in Jiangxi). You might also encounter it in historical or geographical texts, especially when reading about ancient regions like 泷州.

Common words containing 泷 include: 泷水 (lóng shuǐ) — Shuang River; 泷冈 (lóng gāng) — Shuanggang (a place name in Jiangxi); 泷州 (lóng zhōu) — Shuangzhou (an ancient place name).