字形分析Character Analysis:
会意字，从页，从川。页(xié)，头；巛，河流，流水。
顺 is a Logical Aggregate, formed from two pictograms: on the left is 川 (literally means a river; an endless flowing stream); on the right is 页 (originally means head; head and face. 页 was created as a pictogram and looks from the top down like a very big head held up by tow legs). The two semantic indicators combine to give 顺 a meaning of along or be in the same direction as.
本义original meaning:
沿着同一方向 along; be in the same direction as
Lily explains 顺 like this:
To understand how 顺 is composed like this, you can imagine when you are taking a shower, the water just flows smoothly along your body in the same direction from top to toe. As the saying goes, man endeavors to rise and water flows downwards. (人 往 高 处 走， 水 往 低 处 流。Rén wǎng gāo chù zǒu, shuǐ wǎng dī chù liú.)
