How to Write 洨 (xiáo) — Meaning “Xiao (name of a river)”

Picture a river (氵) that meets a crossroads (交, meaning 'to cross' or 'intersect') — this helps you imagine the Xiao River where waters from different streams come together. The image of water at a junction visually reinforces both the meaning and the pronunciation hint from 交.

When writing 洨, be careful that the three dots of the water radical are not too spread out; they should follow a slight curve to the left of the right component. The right part 交 must be written with the top 'lid' (亠) covering the lower 父, and the final stroke is a downward left-falling stroke (捺) that extends slightly beyond the left radical. A common mistake is making the right side too narrow, so keep the 交 balanced and centered.

洨 (xiáo) has the water radical and is a river name, while 㳄 (xián) has the radical 水 at the bottom and means 'saliva' or 'to flow', and 汧 (qiān or kāi) also has the water radical but refers to the Qian River in Shaanxi province. Visually, 洨 uses 交 on the right, 㳄 uses 欠 (yawn), and 汧 uses 开 (open). Each has a completely different meaning despite sharing the water radical.

洨 is almost exclusively used as a proper noun in place names, most notably the 洨河 (Xiáo Hé), a river in Hebei Province, China. Outside of this specific geographic reference, the character rarely appears in everyday Chinese, and it is not included in the HSK vocabulary lists. Culturally, the 洨河 is historically significant as it flows near the famous Zhaozhou Bridge (Anji Bridge), one of China's oldest stone arch bridges.

Common words containing 洨 include: 洨河 (xiáo hé) — Xiao River; 洨水 (xiáo shuǐ) — Xiao River; 洨县 (xiáo xiàn) — Xiao County.