川流不息 (chuān liú bù xī)

Character breakdown

• 川 (Chuān) · 3 strokes

  Pictograph of a river.

• 流 (liú) · 10 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 㐬 represents the sound.

• 不 (bù) · 4 strokes

  Pictograph of sepals of a flower. The modern meaning "no" is a phonetic loan.

• 息 (xī) · 10 strokes

  Depicts a breath of air going into the nose (自). The lines representing breath were later reanalyzed as 心 (heart).

Usage

长安街上车辆川流不息。

the stream flows without stopping (idiom); unending flow

cháng ān jiē shàng chē liàng chuān liú bù xī 。