a lake

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components
氵 meaning component

  Meaning component

shuishuǐ

  

water

is a component form of .

胡 sound component

  Sound component

  

beard

Evolution

湖 Bronze script Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Bronze script

Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)
湖 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
湖 Clerical script Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)

Clerical script

Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)
湖 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

a lake; Hubei, Hunan; bluish-green; lake; CL:|[gè],[piàn]

Most common words with 湖
Freq.
Word
Meaning

lake

江湖

rivers and lakes

湖边

lakeside

湖南

Hunan province in south central China, abbr. 湘, capital Changsha 長沙|长沙[Cháng​shā]

湖北

Hubei Province (Hupeh) in central China, abbr. 鄂[E], capital Wuhan 武漢|武汉[Wǔ​hàn]