Pinyin Syllable

Chinese characters pronounced liu

Learn common Chinese characters pronounced liu, including 流 liú, 六 liù, 留 liú, 陆 lù / liù, 刘 liú. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…

How to Pronounce This Syllable

Build liu by sliding from l straight into iu; the tone rides over the joined sound, so treat it as one unit.

Initial l

Start the syllable on the initial l, then run straight into the final iu — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.

Final iu

Settle the final iu into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.

Study Tip

Start with the most common characters (流 liú, 六 liù, 留 liú, 陆 lù / liù, 刘 liú) and lock in their tones. 8 common characters share the sound liu, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.

Learn by Tone

liu turns up here with 4 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.

1st tone

Taking the 1st tone here: 溜 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

溜liūslip away; to skate

2nd tone

Taking the 2nd tone here: 流, 留, 刘… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

流liúto flow; to spread; to circulate; to move 留liúleave (message); to retain; to stay; to remain; to keep; to preserve 刘liú(surname); to kill 瘤liútumor

3rd tone

Taking the 3rd tone here: 柳 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

柳liǔwillow; Liu (a surname)

4th tone

Taking the 4th tone here: 六, 陆 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

六liùsix; 6 陆lù / liùsix (fraud-proof); (surname); shore; land; continent

Common Words With This Sound

Seeing liu inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.

流行liú xíng(of a contagious disease etc) to spread; to propagate; (of a style of clothing, song etc) popular; fashionable 流利liú lìfluent 交流jiāo liúto exchange; exchange; communication; interaction 五颜六色wǔ yán liù sèmulticolored; every color under the sun 六家liù jiāSix schools of pre-Han philosophy, as analyzed by 司马谈六方liù fānghexagonal 留下liú xiàto leave behind; to stay behind; to remain; to keep 留学生liú xué shēngstudent studying abroad; returned student; foreign student; international student 保留bǎo liúto keep; to retain; to have reservations (about sth); to hold back (from saying sth)大陆dà lùcontinent; mainland

Characters

8 common characters in this group.

Character#1 流 liúto flow; to spread; to circulate; to moveTraditional: 流 Character#2 六 liùsix; 6Traditional: 六 Character#3 留 liúleave (message); to retain; to stay; to remain; to keep; to preserveTraditional: 㽞 Character#4 陆 lù / liùsix (fraud-proof); (surname); shore; land; continentTraditional: 陸 Character#5 刘 liú(surname); to killTraditional: 劉 Character#6 柳 liǔwillow; Liu (a surname)Traditional: 柳 Character#7 溜 liūslip away; to skateTraditional: 溜 Character#8 瘤 liútumorTraditional: 瘤