A phono-semantic compound:
水 (“water”) — semantic element, indicating liquid or fluid.
夜 (ya / ye, “night”) — phonetic element, providing sound.
Original sense: “fluid, juice, liquid matter.”
Extended meanings: bodily fluids, plant sap, sweat (esp. armpit), by extension “solution” or “chemical liquid.”

Frequently used in scientific/medical terms for fluids (e.g., chemistry, biology).
In older contexts, 液 could mean armpit sweat, reflecting everyday bodily fluid usage.
The semantic connection is broad: from natural liquids (sap, juice) to bodily secretions and scientific terminology.
液體 (액체) — liquid, fluid
體液 (체액) — bodily fluid
樹液 (수액) — tree sap
溶液 (용액) — solution
汗液 (한액) — perspiration, sweat

Characters

Words

Vocabulary

vast, great, immense, flood, deluge

sandbank, islet, shoal, river islet

to live, to be alive, lively, active, flowing, moving, fresh

branch, stream, faction

to flow, to circulate, to drift, to spread, to diffuse

sea, ocean

name of the Jing River, to flow, to pass through

to disappear, to vanish, to reduce, to eliminate

liquid, fluid, juice

clean, pure, clear

excessive, overindulgent, licentious, lustful, unrestrained, corrupt

deep, profound

clear, pure, clean, fresh

to lessen, to reduce, to subtract

to cross, to ferry, to carry across, to pass through, to overcome

the name of the Wei River

to boil, soup or broth, bathwater

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Chinese character

Explore 214 Chinese radicals and their derived characters. Sort by radical or stroke count, and view the complete list of official Hanja radicals.

Chinese characters (Hanja)

Chinese characters dictionary

液

Etymology

Usage in Korean

Words that derived from 液

Neighboring characters in the dictionary