Meaning
(United States) state; province; sub-prefecture
Chinese: 国家、州。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “zhou” becomes a different word in each tone. 州 is the 1st tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 州长zhōu zhǎnggovernor (of a province or colony); (US) state governor; (Australian) state premier
- 知州zhī zhōusenior provincial government official in dynastic China
- 州立zhōu lìstate-run
- 州界zhōu jièstate border; state line
- 自治州zì zhì zhōuautonomous prefecture
Example Sentence
广州是中国南方的一座大城市。Guǎng zhōu shì Zhōng guó nán fāng de yí zuò dà chéng shì.Guangzhou is a big city in southern China.
广Guǎngwide州zhōuprefecture是shìis中国Zhōng guóChina南方nán fāngsouth的deof一yíone座zuòseat大城市dà chéng shìmajor city。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The river 川 with dots marking habitable islands or land between its branches: settled ground along a river became an administrative ‘region / province’.
A way to remember it
Islands dotted within the flowing river — a settled region.
Easy to confuse with
- 川‘River’: the same flowing lines without the islands between them.