水管
shuǐ guǎn · HSK 7
pipe
🚰 水管 = 水 (water) + 管 (pipe/tube)
管 by itself means tube or pipe (also to manage); prefixed with 水 (water) it names the pipe that carries water. Same 管 shows up in 血管 (blood vessel) and 吸管 (drinking straw).
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.
管 — bamboo radical 竹 + official 官 (phonetic)
Originally a pictograph of a bamboo tube or pipe, written with the bamboo radical 竹 on top. The lower component 官 supplies the sound. From 'bamboo pipe' it extended to 'tube,' then to 'manage' or 'control' — since pipes channel and regulate flow, the meaning shifted toward administration.