愁 (chóu) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

愁

chóu[chou2]Tone 2

to worry about

HSK 5

Guru Deep Dive

English · to worry about

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:13

Writing Balance Rule: The top component (秋) must be compressed slightly to leave ample room for the bottom component (心), ensuring the heart radical anchors the character securely.

1. Meaning

to worry, to be anxious, worry

sorrowtrouble

verb / nounNeutral#emotions#mental state#psychology

Sample Usage

你在愁什么？
nǐ zài chóu shénme?
What are you worrying about?
他整天愁眉苦脸的。
tā zhěngtiān chóuméikǔliǎn de.
He wears a worried and miserable expression all day long.

2. Sound

/[t͡ʂʰoʊ̯³⁵]/Tone: 35

愁

chóuchou2

´(35)

=chóu

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Retroflex

Sounds like: ch sound with tongue curled back

AspiratedRetroflex

Airflow Tactile Test: Both curled tongue AND explosive puff of air! Tissue MUST fly.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip curled back near the hard palate, releasing a strong puff of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: rhymes with 'oh' or the 'ow' in 'window'

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

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

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises like a question mark in English (e.g., 'What?'), starting mid and shooting up to high pitch.

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 2, it shifts to a half-rising contour depending on speech speed.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse the retroflex initial 'ch-' with the alveolar affricate 'c-' (which sounds like 'ts').

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture starting from your chest and moving diagonally upward, matching the upward inflection of asking a question in English ('Really?').

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 13 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top component (秋) must be compressed slightly to leave ample room for the bottom component (心), ensuring the heart radical anchors the character securely.

4. Components

Radical 心 · Heart radical (heart, mind, emotions)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 心 (indicates that the meaning relates to feelings, thoughts, and emotional state)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 秋 (original sound: qiū / chóu)

An autumn (秋) feeling inside your heart (心) is sadness and worry (愁).

秋 provides the phonetic sound clue and suggests the bleakness of autumn
心 provides the semantic meaning relating to the heart and mind

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

15· Phonetic Root: 秋 (qiū)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from 秋 (autumn, representing the withered season and harvest anxieties) and 心 (heart/mind), portraying the heavy mental state experienced during cold, fading autumn days.

Semantic Evolution: Originally conveyed the melancholy feeling associated with autumn, which broadened into general worry, anxiety, and sorrow in modern Mandarin.

Autumn has historically been associated in Chinese poetry with melancholy, falling leaves, and impending winter hardships.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: シュウ / Kun: うれ.える

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

When autumn (秋) arrives, farmers look at their crops with a heavy heart (心), filled with worry (愁) about the coming winter.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

秋

qiūautumnHas grain (禾) on the left instead of heart (心) at the bottom.

愁

chóuworryAutumn on top plus heart at the bottom.

揪

jiūto clutch / to pinchHas hand radical (扌) on the left.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

秋(qiū)

秋 means autumn and uses the grain radical on the left; 愁 means worry and places autumn on top of the heart radical.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

面对困难，我们要积极解决，不要整天[___]眉苦脸的。

Clue: chóu

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the character structure with 秋 (qiū), mistaking the top-bottom compound for a left-right structure.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 愁, what does it mean and how is it pronounced?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to worry' (chóu) combining autumn and heart?

愁chóuto worry about

Speed:

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