涌

It denotes the upward motion of water or emotion — as in “a spring gushing forth,” or “feelings welling up.”

The character may describe:

- natural phenomena such as springs and tides (泉水涌出, “the spring gushes forth”);

- emotional or social surges (群情涌動, “the public’s emotions surge”);

- or metaphorical outpourings of energy, inspiration, or vitality.

Phono-semantic compound consisting of:

水 (물 수) — semantic component, representing water or fluid movement.

甬 (종꼭지 용) — phonetic component, giving the sound yǒng and connoting a narrow upward passage (as in the stem of a bell).

Thus, 涌 literally means “water moving through a narrow channel and rising up.”

The image evokes a surge of water pushing upward through a confined path, much like a spring or fountain.

In Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字):

「涌，水上出也。从水，甬聲。」

“涌 means water that rises upward; composed of 水 (‘water’) and the sound 甬.”

This directly defines its earliest and literal sense — water springing up.

湧出 (용출) — to gush forth, to spout out

湧動 (용동) — to surge, to heave

湧泉 (용천) — spring, gushing source of water

湧上 (용상) — to rise or overflow upward

感情湧出 (감정용출) — emotional upwelling

群湧 (군용) — crowd surging or gathering

奔湧 (분용) — to rush forth, surge violently

潮湧 (조용) — tidal surge

In Korean, 湧出 (용출) is used in geology and hydrology to describe the upward flow of underground water or oil.

In literature, it appears figuratively for emotions, inspiration, or spiritual fervor rising from within.

In Hong Kong and southern China, 涌 / 湧 also functions as a toponymic element, signifying stream, tidal channel, or inlet, as seen in:

東涌 (Tung Chung)

鰂魚涌 (Quarry Bay)

馬灣涌 (Ma Wan Chung)

Here, 涌 carries the older Cantonese meaning “tidal creek or estuarine channel.”

The Kangxi Dictionary (康熙字典) defines:

「涌，水上出也。」

“涌 — water rising upward.”

It also records early variants:

湧 (水 + 勇) — standard in Japan and Korea;

㴩 — archaic variant with similar meaning.

The character’s semantic core — “upward flow or outpouring” — made it an expressive metaphor in classical and poetic writing:

「泉涌不竭，德澤無窮。」 (古語)

“The spring gushes without end, as virtue flows without limit.”

In Daoist and Confucian imagery, 涌 often symbolizes the natural movement of life energy (氣) — spontaneous, inexhaustible, and pure.

The spring that wells up unbidden is a metaphor for virtue, creativity, or compassion arising from within one’s heart.

In Buddhist texts, 湧出 describes the emergence of insight or enlightenment, as truth “springs forth” from meditation.

Thus, 涌 carries both a physical and spiritual dimension — the ceaseless upwelling of water, feeling, or spirit from hidden depths.

涌 is a phono-semantic compound (水 + 甬) meaning “to spring forth” or “to surge upward.”

It originated from the image of water rising through a narrow passage and came to signify any form of spontaneous emergence or upwelling — physical, emotional, or spiritual.

Together, they express the universal image of life’s movement from stillness to vitality — the eternal springing of the hidden into being.

Variant 湧 (水 + 勇) is now more common in Korean and Japanese usage.