绸 (chóu): (light) silk, CL:匹
绸 (chóu) is a Chinese character meaning “(light) silk.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 纟 (semantic) and 周 (phonetic). It ranks #2515 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 绸 silk. Its radical form 纟 (silk) appears in many related characters such as 系 (xì, to connect), 累 (lěi, to accumulate), 绍 (shào, to continue).
Definitions
- (light) silk
- CL:匹
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 绸 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 丝绸 | sī chóu | silk (cloth) |
| 未雨绸缪 | wèi yǔ chóu móu | lit. before it rains, bind around with silk (idiom, from Book of Songs 詩經|诗经) |
| 绸缎 | chóu duàn | satin |
| 塔夫绸 | tǎ fū chóu | taffeta |
| 绸子 | chóu zi | silk fabric |
| 丝绸之路 | sī chóu zhī lù | the Silk Road |
| 丝绸织物 | sī chóu zhī wù | silk fabric |
| 丝绸古路 | sī chóu gǔ lù | the ancient Silk Road |
| 府绸 | fǔ chóu | poplin (cotton cloth used for shirts) |
| 绫罗绸缎 | líng luó chóu duàn | (idiom) silk and satin |
| 薄绸 | báo chóu | light silk |
| 绸缪 | chóu móu | to be sentimentally attached to sb or sth |
| 绵绸 | mián chóu | rough-textured fabric of waste silk |
绸 appears in 13 compound words: 23 as the first character, 38 as the last, and 38 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 绸 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
Example Sentences
我在字典里查到了绸字的详细解释。
wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le chóu zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .
I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "silk" in the dictionary.
家长客“未雨绸缪”买连约盘供子女未来居住 较高位平2成
jiā cháng kè wèi yǔ chóu 缪 mǎi lián yuē pán gōng zǐ nǚ wèi lái jū zhù jiào gāo wèi píng 2 chéng
丝绸之路形成的初衷并非是贸易。
Sīchóuzhī Lù xíngchéng de chūzhōng bìngfēi shì màoyì.
The original purpose of the Silk Road was not for trade.
她穿着华丽的丝绸服饰。
Tā chuān zhe huálì de sīchóu fúshì.
She was dressed in rich silks.
丝绸是很珍贵的。
Sīchóu shì hěn zhēnguì de.
Silk is very precious.
这个小孩穿着一件丝绸织成的肚兜.
Zhège xiǎohái chuān zhe yī jiàn sīchóu zhī chéng de dùdōu.
The child is wearing a belly-slip made of silk.
他们主要输出的产品是纺织品，尤其以丝绸和绵为主。
Tāmen zhǔyào shūchū de chǎnpǐn shì fǎngzhīpǐn, yóuqí yǐ sīchóu hé mián wéizhǔ.
Their main exports are textiles, especially silk and cotton.
你最好未雨绸缪。
Nǐ zuì hǎo wèiyǔchóumóu.
You'd better keep your money for a rainy day.
海水蓝蓝的，远远看去像一大片丝绸铺开。
Hǎishuǐ lán lán de, yuǎnyuǎn kàn qù xiàng yī dàpiàn sīchóu pū kāi.
The sea is deep blue, and from afar it looks like a vast sheet of silk spread out.
Character Family
纟 Radical Family — Characters sharing the silk radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 绸 (chóu) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 绸 and 调?
How many strokes does 绸 have?
What is the radical of 绸?
What are the components of 绸?
What are common words containing 绸?
What characters sound the same as 绸 (chóu)?
Is 绸 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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