Character: 流
Modern (Beijing) reading: liú
Preclassic Old Chinese: ru
Classic Old Chinese: ru
Western Han Chinese: rǝw
Eastern Han Chinese: rǝw
Early Postclassic Chinese: liw
Middle Postclassic Chinese: lǝw
Late Postclassic Chinese: lǝw
Middle Chinese: lǝw
English meaning : to flow; float; flow away.
Russian meaning[s]: 1) течь; течение, поток; рукав; текущий, текучий; 2) бродить с места на место; бездомный, беженец; 3) предаваться удовольствиям; бездельничать; необузданный; 4) распространяться; циркулировать; находиться в обращении; распространенный, ходкий; 5) ответвление, ветвь; школа, группа; круги общества; компания; ирон. и К; 6) сорт, качество; 7) ссылать; ссылка; изгнание
Shuowen gloss: 水行也.從沝�.�,突忽也籀文從水.
Comments: Schüssler (following some commentators) considers 流 in Shi 1 to be a loan for 摎 *r(h)iw 'to look for, seek' - but this is impossible due to rhyme considerations. For initial *r- (not *rh-) in OC cf. the Min forms: Xiamen, Chaozhou, Fuzhou liu2, Jianou liu9, Jianyang lau2, Shaowu lou2.
Sino-Tibetan etymology: Sino-Tibetan etymology Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *g(h)rua (-t)
Meaning: wash
Tibetan: ãkhru, ãkhrud to wash, to bathe, khrus bath, washing.
Burmese: khjǝwh (OB khuiw) to wash, bathe; Jinuo khry.44 swim
Kachin: khrut2 to bathe, wash.
Lushai: ṭhuaʔ to wash or rinse (as inside of bottle).
Comments: PG *khrù; Dimasa di-gru. Sh. 47; Ben. 38. OCh. *r- is not quite clear here: perhaps the word should be rather compared with Jnp. ru1 to pour, to fall in torrents, as rain (which does not fit very well into the reflexes of PST *qhʷăH rain q. v.). Cf. Austric: PAA *ra:w 'wash', PAN *bulu 'wash hands'.
Dialectal data: Dialectal data Number: 786
Character: 流
MC description : 流開三平尤來
ZIHUI: 3177 1579
Beijing: liou 12
Jinan: liou 12
Xi'an: liou 12
Taiyuan: liou 1
Hankou: niou 12
Chengdu: niǝu 12
Yangzhou: liôɨ 12
Suzhou: löy 12
Wenzhou: liu 12
Changsha: niôu 12
Shuangfeng: niû 12
Nanchang: liu 31
Meixian: liu 12
Guangzhou: lau 12
Xiamen: liu 12
Chaozhou: liu 12
Fuzhou: lieu 12
Shanghai: liɨ 32
Zhongyuan yinyun: liou 12
Radical: 85
Four-angle index: 7611
Karlgren code: 1104 a-b
Shijing occurrences: 1.2_, 26.1_, 37.4, 39.1, 57.4