A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually a freshwater stream, flowing on the Earth's land surface or inside caves towards another waterbody at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, sea, bay, lake, wetland, or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground or becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water. Small rivers can be referred to by names such as creek, brook, and rivulet. There are no official definitions for these various generic terms for a watercourse as applied to geographic features, although in some countries or communities, a stream is customarily referred to by one of these names as determined by its size. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; examples are "run" in some parts of the United States, "burn" in Scotland and Northeast England, and "beck" in Northern England. Sometimes a river is defined as being larger than a creek, but not always; the language is vague.

नदी भूतल पर प्रवाहित एक जलधारा है, जिसका स्रोत प्रायः कोई झील, हिमनद, झरना या बारिश का पानी होता है तथा किसी सागर अथवा झील में गिरती है। नदी शब्द संस्कृत के नद्यः से आया है। संस्कृत में ही इसे सरिता भी कहते हैं।