鼩 (qú) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

鼩

qú[qu2]Tone 2

shrew

Guru Deep Dive

English · shrew

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:13

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left rat radical (鼠) narrow and compact so that the right phonetic component has enough room without crowding.

1. Meaning

shrew (small mammal)

used almost exclusively in the compound 鼩鼱 (shrew)

NounLiteraryBound morpheme#animals#mammals#nature

Sample Usage

鼩鼱是一种小型哺乳动物。
qú jīng shì yī zhǒng xiǎo xíng bǔ rǔ dòng wù.
The shrew is a small mammal.
森林里生活着鼩鼱。
sēn lín lǐ shēng huó zhe qú jīng.
Shrews live in the forest.

2. Sound

/[t͡ɕʰy³⁵]/Tone: 35

鼩

qúqu2

´(35)

=qú

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 flattened against the back of 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 the back of the lower front teeth while the middle of the tongue rises toward the hard palate.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -v vowel group

Sounds like: French 'u' or German 'ü' sound

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

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises like a surprised English question 'What?'

👂

Listening trap: Confusing it with first-tone qū or fourth-tone qù due to missing the rising pitch contour of Tone 2.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture starting from mid-chest and moving up to eye level, mirroring a questioning tone.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 13 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left rat radical (鼠) narrow and compact so that the right phonetic component has enough room without crowding.

4. Components

Radical 鼠 · rat radical (rat, mouse, rodent)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 鼠 (indicates that this creature belongs to the rodent-like mammal family)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 句 (original sound: jù / qú)

The character combines the rat radical (鼠) on the left with the phonetic component 'sentence/phrase' (句) on the right, pointing to a small rodent-like creature.

鼠 Rat radical indicating a rodent
句 Phonetic component providing the sound 'qú'

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

16· Phonetic Root: 句 (gōu)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Formed as a phono-semantic compound where 鼠 (rat) acts as the semantic classifier for small burrowing mammals and 句 provides the pronunciation.

Semantic Evolution: Always associated with small shrew-like or mouse-like burrowing mammals throughout recorded Chinese history.

It is rarely seen outside of the specific binomial word 鼩鼱 in modern Chinese.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

A tiny rat (鼠) is trying to read a difficult sentence (句) out loud, squeaking out 'qú!' with a rising tone because it is confused.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

句

gōuvariant of 勾[gou1]Phonetic Core (声旁)

够

gòuenough+ 多 (more)

狗

gǒudog+ 犭 (dog)

苟

gǒuif indeed / careless / temporary / surname Gou+ 艹 (plants)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

句(jù)

句 lacks the rat radical on the left and has a different tone and meaning.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

这种像老鼠一样的小动物叫做[___][___]。

Clue: qú

Common Learner Pitfall

Assuming 鼩 can stand alone as a common everyday word instead of being a bound morpheme primarily used in 鼩鼱.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What animal does the character 鼩 refer to when combined in 鼩鼱?

Production: How do you write the character for 'shrew' (qú) using the rat radical?

鼩qúshrew

Speed:

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