Chinese symbol for “canal”
运河
yùn hé
Traditional: 運河
canal
The closest CC-CEDICT match for canal is 运河 (yùn hé), defined as: canal.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “canal”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 水渠 | shuǐ qú | canal |
| 渠 | qú | (artificial) stream; canal; drain; ditch (条 (tiáo)); (literary) big; great |
| 人工河 | rén gōng hé | canal; man-made waterway |
| 明渠 | míng qú | (open, uncovered) water channel; canal |
| 漕 | cáo | to transport (esp. grain) by water; (literary) watercourse; canal |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 运河.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 运动 (運動) | yùn dòng | to move; to exercise |
| 运用 (運用) | yùn yòng | to use; to put to use |
| 运行 (運行) | yùn xíng | (of celestial bodies etc) to move along one's course; (fig.) to function; to be in operation |
| 运输 (運輸) | yùn shū | to transport; to carry |
| 命运 (命運) | mìng yùn | fate; destiny |
| 幸运 (幸運) | xìng yùn | fortunate; lucky; good fortune; luck |
| 河流 | hé liú | river; 条 (tiáo) |
| 河道 | hé dào | river course; river channel |
See also: Japanese symbol for “canal”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.