How to Write 淠 (pì) — Meaning “Pi (name of a river)”

Imagine water (氵) flowing over a field and being "given" (畀) to a river – that river is the Pi River. The sound pì can be linked to the English word 'pee' (urine) which is watery, but be careful not to confuse meanings. Or simply think of "Pi" as the Greek letter π and remember it's a river name.

The radical 氵 is written first as three diagonal dots (top, middle, bottom). The right side starts with 田 (5 strokes: left vertical, top horizontal, right vertical, bottom horizontal, middle horizontal), then 廾 (3 strokes: horizontal, left vertical, right vertical). A common mistake is confusing the bottom part 廾 with 井 (which has a bottom horizontal line) – 廾 has no bottom connection between the two vertical strokes.

The key difference is the right side component. 淠 (pì) has 畀 (field + two hands), while 洁 (jié, clean) has 吉 (scholar + mouth) and 洄 (huí, whirlpool) has 回 (enclosure). Visually, 淠's right side looks like a field (田) above a shape that resembles two hands, whereas 洁 has a plus-like shape and 洄 a square. Meanings also differ: 淠 is a river name, 洁 means clean, and 洄 means returning flow.

This character is very rare in everyday conversation. It mainly appears in geographical names, such as the 淠河 (Pì Hé, Pi River) in Anhui Province and the 淠史杭 (Pì Shǐ Háng) irrigation project, a major water engineering system. Learners may encounter it when studying Chinese geography or historical water management, but it is not used in common vocabulary.

Common words containing 淠 include: 淠河 (pì hé) — Pi River; 淠史杭 (pì shǐ háng) — Pishihang (an irrigation system); 淠淠 (pì pì) — The sound or appearance of flowing water.