Writing Balance Rule: The outer enclosure box (囗) must be drawn wide enough to give the inner character (人) breathing room without touching the borders.
1. Meaning
prisoner
confinementimprisonmentcaptive
NounLiteraryBound morpheme#law#society#punishment
Sample Usage
囚犯
qiúfàn
convict, prisoner
囚禁
qiújìn
to imprison, to confine
2. Sound
/[tɕʰi̯oʊ̯³⁵]/Tone: 35
囚
qiúqiu2
|
++
´(35)
=qiú
Build the syllable
Step-by-step blending
qiu
Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "u" per the side-by-side rule (in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).
Initial Consonant
q
Type: Aspirated Alveolo-Palatal
Sounds like: ch sound produced with the tongue flat against the lower teeth
Aspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: Extremely strong burst of breath! Tissue held before mouth MUST fly.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Blade of the tongue touches or is very close to the hard palate behind the alveolar ridge, releasing a sharp puff of air.
Final Rhyme
iu
Vowel Group: -i vowel group
Sounds like: -ioo (similar to the 'yoh' sound in 'yoke' or 'io' diphthong)
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'yo'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Abbreviated Rhyme Rule: iu is short for iou, with the middle 'o' suppressed in pronunciation.
Tone
T2 (35)
3 → 5 (35)
2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 starts at a mid pitch and rises sharply to the top, exactly like the English upward inflection when asking 'Huh?' in disbelief.
👂
Listening trap: Confusing the aspirated initial 'q' with an unaspirated 'j', or mishearing the 'ou' diphthong as a pure vowel.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture moving from low-middle to high, like asking a surprised question: 'Really?'
3. Writing
Topology: Full enclosure · Strokes: 5 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The outer enclosure box (囗) must be drawn wide enough to give the inner character (人) breathing room without touching the borders.
Semantic Clue (形旁):囗 (Represents the four walls of a prison cell or enclosure.)
A person (人) trapped inside four walls (囗) — a classic pictogram showing a prisoner locked inside a cell.
囗 Enclosure representing a prison wall
人 A human being trapped inside
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
2· Phonetic Root: 囚 (qiú)
5. History
Liushu category: Compound ideogram (会意)
Origin: Oracle bone scripts clearly depict a human figure enclosed inside a square box, vividly illustrating a person in confinement.
Semantic Evolution: The character has maintained its core meaning of confinement and prisoners from ancient times down to the modern day.
Ancient Chinese law and penal systems utilized walled enclosures and pits for holding criminals, directly mirrored in this glyph.
6. Sinosphere
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: シュウ / Kun: とりこ
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
수
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Picture a person (人) locked up inside a strict square jail cell (囗). They are calling out with a rising voice ('qiú! qiú!') demanding their freedom as a prisoner.