鞠 (jū): to incline (one's torso), to bow, leather ball used in ancient times, (literary) to bring up, to rear
鞠 (jū) is a Chinese character meaning “to incline (one's torso).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 革 (semantic) and 匊 (phonetic). It ranks #2765 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 鞠 leather. Its radical form 革 (leather) appears in many related characters such as 鞋 (xié, shoe), 革 (gé, animal hide), 靴 (xuē, boots).
Definitions
- to incline (one's torso)
- to bow
- leather ball used in ancient times
- (literary) to bring up
- to rear
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 鞠 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 鞠躬verb | jū gōng | to bow |
| 鞠躬尽瘁phrase | jū gōng jìn cuì | to bend to a task and spare no effort (idiom) |
| 鞠躬尽瘁,死而后已 | jū gōng jìn cuì , sǐ ér hòu yǐ | to bend to a task and spare no effort unto one's dying day (idiom) |
| 蹴鞠noun | cù jū | cuju, ancient Chinese football (soccer) |
鞠 appears in 4 compound words: 75 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 0 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 鞠 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
这个鞠字在古汉语中有不同的含义。
zhè gě jū zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .
The character "鞠" has different meanings in Classical Chinese.
终场哨响后,他深情亲吻了门柱,随后转身向四面看台鞠躬,眼眶泛红。
zhōng chǎng shào xiǎng hòu , tā shēn qíng qīn wěn le mén zhù , suí hòu zhuǎn shēn xiàng sì miàn kàn tái jū gōng , yǎn kuàng fàn hóng .
After the final whistle blew, he gave the goalpost a tender kiss, then turned and bowed to the stands on all four sides, his eyes reddened.
董路甫一出现,面对前来欢呼接机的华侨华人和球迷,立即停下脚步,向人群深深鞠了一躬。
dǒng lù fǔ yī chū xiàn , miàn duì qián lái huān hū jiē jī de huá qiáo huá rén hé qiú mí , lì jí tíng xià jiǎo bù , xiàng rén qún shēn shēn jū le yī gōng .
As soon as Dong Lu appeared, he stopped in his tracks upon seeing the overseas Chinese and fans who had come to cheer him on, and bowed deeply to the crowd.
投壶、蹴鞠、拓印等传统文化互动项目,让大人孩子在创作中触摸非遗温度。
tóu hú , 蹴 jū , tuò yìn děng chuán tǒng wén huà hù dòng xiàng mù , ràng dà rén hái zǐ zài chuàng zuò zhōng chù mō fēi yí wēn dù .
Interactive traditional cultural activities such as arrow-throwing, cuju, and block printing allow both adults and children to experience the warmth of intangible cultural heritage through creative expression.
酒店员工提醒孩子勿玩旋转门 熊家长报警逼鞠躬道歉
jiǔ diàn yuán gōng tí xǐng hái zǐ wù wán xuán zhuǎn mén xióng jiā cháng bào jǐng bī jū gōng dào qiàn
Hotel staff warned a child not to play with the revolving door; the child’s overbearing parent called the police and forced the staff to bow and apologize
红茶巴士4度鞠躬灭火!道歉全文一次看
hóng chá bā shì 4 dù jū gōng miè huǒ ! dào qiàn quán wén yī cì kàn
Black Tea Bus Bows Four Times to Put Out the Fire! Read the Full Apology Here
没有人向他恭敬地鞠躬。
Méiyǒu rén xiàng tā gōngjìng de jūgōng.
No one respectfully bowed towards him.
在日本,遇到人鞠躬是有礼貌的表现。
Zài Rìběn, yùdào rén jūgōng shì yǒulǐmào de biǎoxiàn.
In Japan, it is polite to bow when one meets someone.
男孩向我鞠了个躬。
Nánhái xiàng wǒ jū le gè gōng.
The boy bowed to me.
Character Family
革 Radical Family — Characters sharing the leather radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 鞠 (jū) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 鞠 and 下?
How many strokes does 鞠 have?
What is the radical of 鞠?
What are the components of 鞠?
What are common words containing 鞠?
What characters sound the same as 鞠 (jū)?
Is 鞠 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 鞠 with real-time feedback
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