zhòu
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 helmet (worn in battle)
  2. 2 descendant; offspring

Examples

HSK 6
Gǔdài shìbīng pī jiǎ dài zhòu shàng zhànchǎng.
Ancient soldiers wore armor and a helmet into battle.
HSK 7-9
Tā shì míngmén guì zhòu de hòudài.
He is a descendant of an old noble family.

Tips

usage
is a variant of , used today mostly in literary or historical writing. It has two senses: a battle helmet (paired with armor as 甲冑), and a noble's descendant (贵冑 = scions of the nobility).

Components

radical
ròu
flesh; body (radical form of 肉)
The bottom is the flesh radical ⺼, the body-form of . Tying the character to the human line, it underpins the 'descendant; bloodline' sense.
phonetic
yóu
from; cause
The top supplies the sound that shifted to zhòu. Sitting above the flesh element, it carries the reading rather than meaning.

Stroke Order

zhòu