How to Write 溆 (xù) — Meaning “Water's edge; name of a river.”

Imagine the water radical 氵 as a river, and the right side 叙 looks like a person (余) holding a tool (又) at the water's edge. Picture someone standing by the riverbank using a tool to fish — that scene can remind you that 溆 means "water's edge."

Write the water radical 氵 first with three dots: left dot, then top dot, then bottom right dot. The right side 叙 has seven strokes: start with 余 (person radical 人, then 干? Actually 叙: 人, 一, 一, 丨, 丿, ㇏, 又) — be careful not to confuse the lower part with 欠. A common mistake is making the right side too wide; keep it balanced so the whole character is not wider than a normal square.

溆 means "water's edge" or is a river name, while 流 means "to flow" and 浙 refers to Zhejiang province or the Zhe River. Visually, 流 has 𠂉 on top and a different right side, and 浙 has 折 on the right. Never use 溆 in place of 流 (flow) or 浙 (province) because their meanings and pronunciations are completely different.

溆 is rarely used alone in modern Chinese; it appears mainly in place names, especially 溆浦 (Xupu county in Hunan province) and 溆水 (a river in Hunan). When you see this character, it almost always refers to a specific location in Hunan, so it's a good example of a character preserved in geographical names.

Common words containing 溆 include: 溆浦 (xù pǔ) — Xupu (a county in Hunan).; 溆水 (xù shuǐ) — Xushui River.; 溆浦人 (xù pǔ rén) — People from Xupu..