裘 (qiú): fur coat; fur garment

Measure Word

一件裘 jiàn

Meanings

1 fur coat; fur garment
2 a surname (Qiu)

Characters

裘

qiú

fur coat

Examples

他穿着一件貂裘。

Tā chuānzhe yī jiàn diāo qiú.

He was wearing a sable fur coat.

千金之裘，非一狐之腋。

Qiānjīn zhī qiú, fēi yī hú zhī yè.

A thousand-gold fur coat is not made from a single fox's armpit.

Tips

history

裘 is the classical word for fur garments. The character shows 求 (seek) under 衣 (clothing) - literally 'sought-after clothing', reflecting the value of furs in ancient China.

Components

radical

衣 yī

clothing; garment

衣 at the bottom is the clothing radical - a pictograph of a collared robe seen from the front. It re-anchored the meaning of 裘 to "fur garment" specifically. The radical family includes 袄 padded jacket, 袍 long robe, 裙 skirt - every kind of clothing.

phonetic

求 qiú

to seek (here phonetic)

求 supplies the sound, identical reading qiú. Etymologically 求 itself depicted a fur garment - making 裘 a doubling-up where the original drawing of fur was clarified by adding the cloth radical 衣 underneath when 求 was reassigned to mean "seek". Same sound family: 球 ball, 救 rescue.