river in Shandong province

A green river also provides the pronunciation

Components

Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass
SoundMeaning component
river

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Old Chinese
Zhengzhangkaːl
ɡaːl

說文解字

菏澤水。在山陽胡陵。《禹貢》:“浮于淮泗,達于菏。”从水苛聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica