Origin

The character 滝 combines the water radical on the left, which identifies the word as something involving water, with the character 竜 (dragon) on the right. The 竜 component provides a sound hint for how to pronounce the character, rather than contributing a water-related meaning. Together, these elements form a character that represents the powerful, turbulent flow of water cascading down—a waterfall or rapids.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).