qiū
noun #10,178

Measure Word

zuò

Meanings

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

Examples

Yuǎnchù yǒu jǐ gè xiǎoqiū.
There are a few small hills in the distance.
Tāmen zài tǔ qiū shàng dā le zhàngpeng.
They pitched a tent on the mound.

Tips

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

Components

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

Stroke Order

qiū