屈 (qū) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

屈

qū[qu1]Tone 1

bent, to feel wronged, surname Qu

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · bent, to feel wronged, surname Qu

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:8

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (尸) acts as a protective shell hanging over the right component (出), which should be balanced vertically beneath the overhang.

1. Meaning

bent or crooked; to feel wronged or aggrieved

to submit or yieldsurname Qu

Adjective / Verb / Proper NounNeutral#emotions#shapes#surnames

Sample Usage

委屈
wěiqu
to feel wronged / grievance
坚屈
jiān qū
to bend but not break

2. Sound

/[t͡ɕʰy˥˥]/Tone: 55

屈

qūqu1

¯(55)

=qū

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "u" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Alveolo-Palatal

Sounds like: ch sound produced with the tongue blade near the alveolar ridge and flat front

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Extremely strong burst of breath! Tissue held before mouth MUST fly.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue blade raised close to the hard palate, teeth close together, releasing a strong puff of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -v vowel group

Sounds like: ee sound with rounded lips (like French 'u' in 'tu')

Note: Written as 'u', pronounced as rounded 'ü' [y].

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ü'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Maintains a flat, elevated pitch identical to singing a high note continuously.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse the aspirated palatal 'q' with the unaspirated 'j' (jū) or the retroflex 'zh' (zhū). Ensure the front rounded vowel does not slip back into an English 'oo' sound.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 1 is a high, steady flat line, like holding a high musical note at the top of your vocal range without any rise or fall.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 8 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (尸) acts as a protective shell hanging over the right component (出), which should be balanced vertically beneath the overhang.

4. Components

Radical 尸 · corpse radical (body, corpse, or posture/house)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 尸 (indicates posture or body bending over)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 出 (original sound: chū)

A person (尸) whose body or movement comes out (出) crooked or forced to bend under pressure, representing feeling wronged or bending.

尸 corpse/body posture
出 to go out / phonetic and structural base

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

5· Phonetic Root: 屈 (qū)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined the posture radical (尸) with a phonetic and conceptual element indicating a deviation from straightness, evolving from ancient scripts showing a bent body or posture.

Semantic Evolution: From the physical action of bending or crouching, it extended metaphorically to emotional distress (feeling wronged) and submission.

Famous historically through the ancient patriotic poet Qu Yuan (屈原), whose surname uses this character.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: クツ (kutsu) / Kun: かが.む (kaga.mu)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

굴

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine a person's body (尸) forced to come out (出) of a tight space, causing them to bend awkwardly and feel deeply wronged.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

崛

juétowering as a peak+ 山 (mountain)

掘

juéto dig+ 扌 (hand)

窟

kūcave+ 穴 (cave)

堀

kūcave; hole+ 土 (earth)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

曲(qū)

曲 means curved or song and lacks the body/corpse radical 尸 on the left.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

听到这个不公平的决定，他感到非常[___]。

Clue: qū

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the front rounded vowel ü with an ordinary English 'u' sound like in 'cup' or 'rule'.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 屈 mean when used as an adjective for emotional state?

Production: How do you write the character for feeling wronged or bent, pronounced qū?

屈qūbent, to feel wronged, surname Qu

Speed:

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