水源
shuǐyuán · HSK 7
source of water
💧🏞️ 水源 = water (水) + source (源) = where water originates, the headwaters
水 is the everyday word for water; 源 means source or origin and shares its right side with 原 (original). Put them together and you get the source of water — the spring or headwaters a river flows from.
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.