河
かわ · kawa · JLPT N3 · noun
river
🏞️ 氵 water + 可 (ka) gives the sound: kawa, a river of water
The three drops on the left (氵) are the water radical. 可 on the right was borrowed for its sound, ka, which is also how kawa starts. Sound hook: cows go to the kawa to drink, so cow-wa means river.
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.