"水", which means "water" in English. The middle part "亅" can be seen as the mainstream, and the left and the right part are the sprays of this running water. In order to form other Hanzi, "水" must be simplified to the radical "氵". "河", "湖", and "海", which means "river", "lake", and "ocean" in English. The left part "氵" indicates that these Hanzi are about water, and the right side implies this Hanzi's pronunciation