水利
shuǐ lì · HSK 7
water conservancy
💧 水利 = water (shuǐ) + benefit/profit (lì) = making water benefit us = water conservancy
利 lì means benefit or profit (it shows grain 禾 beside a knife 刂 — harvesting gain). So 水利 is literally water-benefit: managing rivers and irrigation so water profits farming rather than flooding.
水 — pictograph of flowing water
水 is a pictograph depicting a stream of flowing water, with the central line representing the main current and the side strokes showing splashing droplets or ripples. In oracle bone script it was drawn even more clearly as a wavy vertical line with branches. It retains its original meaning of 'water' and also serves as a radical, often appearing in the compressed form 氵.
利 — grain 禾 + knife 刂
Originally a pictograph showing a knife (刂) cutting grain (禾), depicting harvest. From the idea of a sharp blade reaping crops, it extended to mean 'sharp,' then 'benefit,' 'profit,' or 'advantage' — the gain that comes from a successful harvest.