(chóu): to entertain, to repay, to return

(chóu) is a Chinese character meaning “to entertain.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1977 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, wine. Its radical form (wine) appears in many related characters such as (pèi, to join), (suān, sour), (xǐng, to wake up).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to entertain
  2. to repay
  3. to return

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwine

Decomposition: ⿰酉州 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
bào choureward
chóu láoreward
yìng chouto engage in social activities
chóu jīnmonetary reward
chóu xièto thank with a gift
piàn chóuremuneration for playing a role in a movie or television drama
tóng gōng tóng chóuequal pay for equal work
稿gǎo chóufee paid to an author for a piece of writing
tiān dào chóu qínHeaven rewards the diligent. (idiom)
chóu bīnbargain sale
biān jì bào chóumarginal returns
tóu zī bào chóu lǜreturn on investment
chóu hèto respond to a poem with a poem
chóu duì(literary) to reply
chóu yìngsocial interaction
27
Total compounds
52
As first character
41
As last character
7
As middle character

appears in 27 compound words: 52 as the first character, 41 as the last, and 7 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

xīn
0.69713,302 co-occurrences
bào
0.4828,130 co-occurrences
yōng
0.457882 co-occurrences
láo
0.4191,476 co-occurrences
稿gǎo
0.394924 co-occurrences
0.3881,476 co-occurrences
jīn
0.3701,422 co-occurrences
piàn
0.3634,158 co-occurrences
jīn
0.3604,968 co-occurrences
0.340582 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

tiāndàochóuqínHSK 7+

God rewards those who work hard; God helps those who help themselves

phrase
tónggōngtóngchóuHSK 7+

equal pay for equal work

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí chóu zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Mastering the character "酬" requires repeated practice to achieve neat and legible writing.

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

能源避险基金“无视川普”奏效 今年来报约35%

néng yuán bì xiǎn jī jīn wú shì chuān pǔ zòu xiào jīn nián lái bào chóu yuē 3 5

Energy Hedge Fund's 'Ignore Trump' Strategy Pays Off, Yielding About 35% Returns So Far This Year

Yahoo FinanceMar 2026

...德思哲调查:78%受访者料未来18个月薪将持续增长

. . . dé sī zhé diào chá : 7 8 shòu fǎng zhě liào wèi lái 1 8 gè yuè xīn chóu jiāng chí xù zēng cháng

...Deloitte Survey: 78% of Respondents Expect Salaries to Continue Rising Over the Next 18 Months

鉅亨網 - 財經新聞、全球指數、股市報價、商品行情、理財投資Mar 2026

差距扩大!韩大企业员工平均年薪首破1亿韩...

xīn chóu chā jù kuò dà ! hán dà qǐ yè yuán gōng píng jūn nián xīn shǒu pò 1 yì hán . . .

Wage Gap Widens! Average Annual Salary for Employees at Major Korean Companies Exceeds 100 Million Won for the First Time...

三立新聞網Mar 2026

要跑赢大盘背 它锁定高报迎战震荡盘!

yāo pǎo yíng dà pán bèi tā suǒ dìng gāo bào chóu yíng zhàn zhèn dàng pán !

To outperform the market, bet on this—it’s poised to deliver high returns amid market volatility!

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

福遍县地区书记官庆马年 陪审员获劳红包

fú biàn xiàn dì qū shū jì guān qìng mǎ nián péi shěn yuán huò chóu láo hóng bāo

Fubian County District Clerk celebrates the Year of the Horse Jurors receive paid red envelopes

Tatoeba

汤姆正考虑应聘薪更高的工作。

Tāngmǔ zhèng kǎolǜ yìngpìn xīnchóu gèng gāo de gōngzuò.

Tom is thinking about applying for a better-paying job.

Tatoeba

这个工作没有劳。

Zhège gōngzuò méiyǒu chóuláo.

This job doesn't pay.

Tatoeba

让我们平分这个报吧。

Ràng wǒmen píngfēn zhège bàochou ba.

Let's split the reward fifty-fifty.

Tatoeba

他们希望会找到一份报优厚的工作。

Tāmen xīwàng huì zhǎodào yī fèn bàochou yōuhòu de gōngzuò.

They hope to be able to find a well-paid job.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced chóu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 酬 (chóu) mean in Chinese?
酬 (chóu) primarily means "to entertain." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1977 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 酬 have?
酬 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 酬?
The radical associated with 酬 is 酉 (wine). This radical appears in many characters related to wine.
What are the components of 酬?
酬 is composed of: 酉 (semantic), 州 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰酉州 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 酬?
Common words with 酬 include: 报酬 (bào chou, "reward"); 酬劳 (chóu láo, "reward"); 应酬 (yìng chou, "to engage in social activities"); 酬金 (chóu jīn, "monetary reward"); 酬谢 (chóu xiè, "to thank with a gift"). There are over 27 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 酬 (chóu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chóu: 抽 (to draw out), 绸 ((light) silk), 畴 (field, category), 愁 (to worry about), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 酬 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 酬 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.