丘

qiū
noun #10,178

Measure Word

一座丘 zuò

Meanings

  1. 1 mound
  2. 2 hillock
  3. 3 small hill

Examples

HSK 5
Yuǎnchù yǒu jǐ gè xiǎoqiū.
There are a few small hills in the distance.
HSK 7-9
Tāmen zài tǔqiū shàng dā le zhàngpeng.
They pitched a tent on the mound.

Tips

usage
丘 also functions as a surname (Qiū). Common compounds: 山丘 (hill), 沙丘 (sand dune), 土丘 (earthen mound).

Components

semantic
斤 jīn
axe; catty (here visual residue)
Top four strokes happen to draw the silhouette of 斤, but this is graphic coincidence, not etymology. The oracle-bone 丘 actually pictured two small earthen mounds standing side by side; over centuries the upper portion gradually stylised into the modern axe-shape. Treat 斤 here as a pedagogically convenient handle on the upper half, not as the historical source.
ideograph
一 yī
one; the ground line
Bottom stroke 一 - not 'one' here but the ground line. Classical commentators read 丘 as 'mounds standing on the earth,' with this horizontal as the flat ground beneath. Same device in 立 and 旦. Indexed under Kangxi #1 一 (yī) by tradition via this very ground-stroke.

Stroke Order

丘 qiū