‘清浅’ (qīng jiān) is a poetic, literary adjective used almost exclusively to describe water that is both transparently clear and gently flowing — often with a soft, murmuring sound. The first character 清 means 'clear' or 'pure', emphasizing visual clarity and purity; the second character 浅 means 'shallow', suggesting gentle depth and calm movement rather than forceful current. Together, they evoke a serene, idyllic natural scene — like a sunlit brook over smooth stones or a quiet mountain stream.

This term appears frequently in classical Chinese poetry and modern descriptive writing about nature, especially in contexts involving streams, springs, or ponds. It carries a refined, tranquil aesthetic and is rarely used in casual speech or for man-made water features. Because it’s inherently descriptive and sensory, it typically modifies nouns like 水 (water), 溪 (stream), or 泉 (spring), and often appears in parallel structures or four-character idioms (e.g., 清浅见底 — 'so clear the bottom is visible').