HSK 3 · Time

秋 qiū “autumn” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 秋 means

  1. autumn
  2. fall
  3. harvest time

How to say 秋

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale秋qiū1st tone, high and level

秋 in a sentence

  1. 中秋节是中国的传统节日。

    Zhōngqiūjié shì Zhōngguó de chuántǒng jiérì.

    The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional Chinese festival.

    Sentence #1878419 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 秋天的时候，燕子会往南飞。

    Qiūtiān de shíhou, yànzi huì wǎng nán fēi.

    In autumn, swallows fly south.

    Sentence #3537622 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 这些绿叶到秋天变成红色或黄色。

    Zhèxiē lǜyè dào qiūtiān biànchéng hóngsè huò huángsè.

    These green leaves turn red or yellow in autumn.

    Sentence #392236 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 秋 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 秋 (qiū) with each of its parts in a different colour
秋qiūautumn
  • 禾grain · hé
  • 火fire · huǒ

Memory aidPicture grain 禾 ripening under a fiery 火 sun: autumn.

How to write 秋

秋 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

秋 (qiū) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 秋 (qiū). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 秋

Words with 秋

秋天qiūtiān · autumn

More words: Time

久jiǔ · long time马上mǎshàng · at once其实qíshí · actually其他qítā · other突然tūrán · sudden夏xià · summer一般yìbān · general一定yídìng · surely

FAQs

秋 (qiū) means “autumn” or “fall”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it qiū: qiū with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 秋 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type qiu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 秋 from the suggestions. Typing qiu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
秋 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.