运河
yùn hé · HSK 7
canal
🚢 运 (transport/move) + 河 (river) = a river built to transport boats: a canal
运 means to transport or move; 河 means river. A 运河 is a man-made river dug for moving cargo and boats. The Grand Canal, 大运河, is the classic example.
运 — walk radical 辶 + 军 jūn (army)
Originally depicted an army (军) on the move (辶), meaning to transport or move troops. The sense broadened to 'transport, move, revolve' and later acquired the abstract meaning of 'fortune' or 'luck'—what fate moves toward you. The simplified form replaces traditional 運.
河 — water radical 氵 + 可 (kě, phonetic)
河 is a classic semantic-phonetic compound: 氵 (water) gives the meaning 'river', while 可 supplies the sound. Originally 河 referred specifically to the Yellow River, and only later broadened to mean rivers in general.