稠 (chóu): dense, crowded, thick

稠 (chóu) is a Chinese character meaning “dense.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 禾 (semantic) and 周 (phonetic). It ranks #2894 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 稠 grain. Its radical form 禾 (grain) appears in many related characters such as 秋 (qiū, autumn), 科 (kē, branch of study), 租 (zū, to hire).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. dense
  2. crowded
  3. thick

Etymology & Origin

稠

pictophoneticgrain

Decomposition: ⿰禾周 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Practice writing 稠 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
稠密adjectivechóu mìdense
粘稠nounnián chóuviscous
人口稠密rén kǒu chóu mìpopulous
人烟稠密phraserén yān chóu mì(idiom) densely populated
地狭人稠phrasedì xiá rén chóu(idiom) small and densely populated
地窄人稠dì zhǎi rén chóusee 地狹人稠|地狭人稠
增稠剂zēng chóu jìthickener
粘稠度nián chóu dùviscosity
增稠zēng chóuto thicken
黏稠度nián chóu dùviscosity
浓稠adjectivenóng chóuthick
稠浊chóu zhuónumerous and confused
12
Total compounds
17
As first character
42
As last character
42
As middle character

稠 appears in 12 compound words: 17 as the first character, 42 as the last, and 42 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 稠 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

粘nián
0.590602 co-occurrences
黏nián
0.578582 co-occurrences
密mì
0.5423,368 co-occurrences
牛niú
0.5261,400 co-occurrences
浓nóng
0.477161 co-occurrences
液yè
0.440402 co-occurrences
羊yáng
0.440296 co-occurrences
汁zhī
0.436118 co-occurrences
口kǒu
0.4121,900 co-occurrences
粥zhōu
0.40734 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

地狭人稠dìxiárénchóuHSK 7+

small in area but densely populated

phrase
人烟稠密rényānchóumìHSK 7+

to be densely populated

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

稠字的写法很特别,让我印象深刻。

chóu zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The writing of the character "稠" is quite unique and has left a deep impression on me.

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

绿豆本身含有中等量的嘌呤,煮汤后嘌呤会进入汤中,尤其是浓稠的底部汤液嘌呤含量较高。

lǜ dòu běn shēn hán yǒu zhōng děng liàng de 嘌 呤 , zhǔ tāng hòu 嘌 呤 huì jìn rù tāng zhōng , yóu qí shì nóng chóu de de bù tāng yè 嘌 呤 hán liàng jiào gāo .

Mung beans naturally contain moderate amounts of purines, which leach into the soup when cooked; the purine content is particularly high in the thick broth at the bottom of the pot.

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

适量献血能促进血液新陈代谢,降低血液黏稠度,改善血液循环,是对身体有益的良性调节。

shì liàng xiàn xiě néng cù jìn xiě yè xīn chén dài xiè , jiàng dī xiě yè nián chóu dù , gǎi shàn xiě yè xún huán , shì duì shēn tǐ yǒu yì de liáng xìng diào jié .

Donating blood in moderation can promote blood metabolism, reduce blood viscosity, and improve blood circulation, serving as a beneficial form of regulation for the body.

爱范儿Jul 2026

不同芯片采用稠密计算还是稀疏计算、按照怎样的稀疏倍数统计,都会影响最终数字。

bù tóng xīn piàn cǎi yòng chóu mì jì suàn hái shì xī shū jì suàn , àn zhào zěn yàng de xī shū bèi shǔ tǒng jì , dōu huì yǐng xiǎng zuì zhōng shǔ zì .

Whether different chips use dense or sparse computation, and the sparsity factor used for calculation, will all affect the final result.

少数派Jul 2026

也就是奶香更浓、在口腔里更黏稠。

yě jiù shì nǎi xiāng gēng nóng , zài kǒu qiāng lǐ gēng nián chóu .

In other words, it has a richer milky flavor and a thicker, creamier texture in the mouth.

少数派Jun 2026

但某种程度上它和 Ostri 异曲同工:面粉烤制的主食搭配浓稠入味的炖肉。

dàn mǒu zhǒng chéng dù shàng tā hé O s t r i yì qū tóng gōng : miàn fěn kǎo zhì de zhǔ shí dā pèi nóng chóu rù wèi de dùn ròu .

But in a way, it’s similar to Ostri: a flour-based staple served with a rich, flavorful stew.

Tatoeba

西里西亚省是波兰人口稠密度最大的地区。

Xīlǐxīyà shěng shì Bōlán rénkǒuchóumì dù zuì dà de dìqū.

The Silesian Voivodeship is the most densely populated region of Poland.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 禾 (grain) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced chóu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 稠 (chóu) mean in Chinese?
稠 (chóu) primarily means "dense." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2894 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 稠 and 细?
稠 (chóu) and 细 (xì) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 稠 (thick) vs 细 (thin).
How many strokes does 稠 have?
稠 is written with 13 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 稠?
The radical associated with 稠 is 禾 (grain). This radical appears in many characters related to grain.
What are the components of 稠?
稠 is composed of: 禾 (semantic), 周 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰禾周 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 稠?
Common words with 稠 include: 稠密 (chóu mì, "dense"); 粘稠 (nián chóu, "viscous"); 人口稠密 (rén kǒu chóu mì, "populous"); 人烟稠密 (rén yān chóu mì, "(idiom) densely populated"); 地狭人稠 (dì xiá rén chóu, "(idiom) small and densely populated"). There are over 12 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 稠 (chóu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chóu: 绸 ((light) silk), 抽 (to draw out), 仇 (hatred), 筹 (chip (in gambling)), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 稠 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 稠 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 稠 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.