Chinese Character Wiki
秋

qiū

autumn

Originally a pictograph of a cricket, since cricket chirps indicate the beginning of autumn. Later the character was reanalyzed as 禾 (grain) + 火 (fire).

Components
禾 iconic component

禾  Iconic component

hé

  

grain stalk

Autumn is the season for harvesting grain.

火 iconic component

火  Iconic component

huǒ

  

fire

Autumn leaves have a fiery color.

Evolution

秋 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
秋 Bronze script Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)

Bronze script

Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)
秋 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
秋 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
秋 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

秋  

qiū

autumn, fall; year; autumn; fall; harvest time

秋  

Qiū

surname Qiu

秋 (秌) 

qiū

old variant of 秋[qiū]

秋 (鞦) 

qiū

see 鞦韆|秋千[qiū​qiān]

Most common words with 秋
Freq.
Word
Meaning

秋

autumn

秋天

autumn

秋季

autumn

春秋

year

秋千

swing (seat hung from a frame or branch)

Component uses

Sound component in 14 characters (0 verified)

鞦 愁 瞅 揪 啾 鍬 锹 鳅 湫 愀 楸 鬏 鶖 鹙

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*tsʰiw

tshjuw

qiū

autumn; crop


Statistics

HSK level 2

Appears in 8.6177% of movies

1837th most common character in movies

1151st most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

9

Unicode

U+79CB

Shuowen

“秋，禾穀孰也。从禾，省聲。，籀文不省。”


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