刘 (liú): (classical) a type of battle-ax, to kill, to slaughter

刘 (liú) is a Chinese character meaning “(classical) a type of battle-ax.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 文 (phonetic) and 刂 (semantic). It ranks #751 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 刘 knife. Its radical form 刂 (knife) appears in many related characters such as 分 (fēn, to divide), 别 (bié, to leave), 到 (dào, to reach).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (classical) a type of battle-ax
  2. to kill
  3. to slaughter

Etymology & Origin

刘

pictophoneticknife

Decomposition: ⿰文刂 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
刘海liú hǎibangs
刘德华liú dé huáAndy Lau (1961-), Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actor
刘翔liú xiángLiu Xiang (1983-), Chinese gold-medal hurdler of the 2004 Olympic Games
刘光第liú guāng dìLiu Guangdi (1859-1898), one of the Six Gentlemen Martyrs 戊戌六君子 of the unsuccessful reform mov...
刘天华liú tiān huáLiu Tianhua (1895-1932), Chinese musician and composer
刘心武liú xīn wǔLiu Xinwu (1942-), novelist
刘少奇liú shào qíLiu Shaoqi (1898-1969), Chinese communist leader, a martyr of the Cultural Revolution
刘向liú xiàngLiu Xiang (77-6 BC), Han Dynasty scholar and author
刘表liú biǎoLiu Biao (142-208), warlord
刘安liú ānLiu An (179-122 BC), King of Huainan under the Western Han, ordered the writing of the 淮南子
刘宋时代liú sòng shí dàiSong of the Southern dynasties (420-479), with capital at Nanjing
刘金宝liú jīn bǎoLiu Jinbao (1952-), CEO of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) 1997-2003, jailed after being convicted of embezzlement
刘公岛proper-nounliú gōng dǎoLiugong island in the Yellow sea
刘贵今liú guì jīnLiu Guijin (1945–), Chinese diplomat, ambassador to South Africa 2001–2007
刘基liú jīLiu Ji or Liu Bowen 劉伯溫|刘伯温 (1311-1375), general under the first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang 朱元璋[Zhu1 Y...
44
Total compounds
98
As first character
0
As last character
2
As middle character

刘 appears in 44 compound words: 98 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 2 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 刘 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

钧jūn
0.4821,092 co-occurrences
焕huàn
0.462906 co-occurrences
晓xiǎo
0.4562,518 co-occurrences
聪cōng
0.4561,002 co-occurrences
骏jùn
0.454612 co-occurrences
暄xuān
0.451314 co-occurrences
涛tāo
0.4421,018 co-occurrences
芳fāng
0.435998 co-occurrences
辉huī
0.4321,276 co-occurrences
馨xīn
0.427886 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习刘字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

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

Mastering the character "刘" requires repeated practice to achieve neat handwriting.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

幸福鲜奶周新北学生超商兑换鲜奶 刘和然化身一日店长

xìng fú xiān nǎi zhōu xīn běi xué shēng chāo shāng duì huàn xiān nǎi liú hé rán huà shēn yī rì diàn cháng

Happy Fresh Milk Week New Taipei Student Supermarket Exchange Fresh Milk Liu Heran incarnated as a one-day store manager

三立新聞網Feb 2026

刘美贤冬奥花滑夺金 父亲拒中国金钱招揽

liú měi xián dōng ào huā huá duó jīn fù qīn jù zhōng guó jīn qián zhāo lǎn

Liu Meixian won gold in figure skating at the Winter Olympics, and her father refused China's money solicitation

LtnFeb 2026

酒局洗脸球星尪 刘雨柔暴怒:孩子不是我一人

jiǔ jú xǐ liǎn qiú xīng 尪 liú yǔ róu bào nù : hái zǐ bù shì wǒ yī rén

Liu Yurou was furious: I am not the only child in the country

Hk01.comFeb 2026

古天乐现身演协春茗送惊喜 刘江演艺贡献获表扬:我未够资格

gǔ tiān lè xiàn shēn yǎn xié chūn 茗 sòng jīng xǐ liú jiāng yǎn yì gòng xiàn huò biǎo yáng : wǒ wèi gòu zī gé

Louis Koo appeared in the Spring Tea of the Acting Association to send a surprise Liu Jiang's acting contribution was praised: I am not qualified enough

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

刘大年/中国大陆贸易顺差的意涵

liú dà nián zhōng guó dà lù mào yì shùn chā de yì hán

Liu Danian/The meaning of Chinese mainland's trade surplus

Tatoeba

刘备和诸葛亮是一支无法战胜的队伍。

Liú Bèi hé Zhūgě Liàng shì yī zhī wúfǎ zhànshèng de duìwǔ.

Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are an unbeatable team.

Tatoeba

过年时,小刘的单位给每位员工发一袋面粉。

Guònián shí, Xiǎo Liú de dānwèi gěi měi wèi yuángōng fā yīdài miànfěn.

For the new year, Liu's company gives every employee a bag of flour.

Tatoeba

刘晓波是中国人。

Liú Xiǎobō shì Zhōngguórén.

Liu Xiaobo is Chinese.

Tatoeba

我很想告诉给我理发的女士我不喜欢留刘海。

Wǒ hěn xiǎng gàosu gěi wǒ lǐfà de nǚshì wǒ bù xǐhuan liú liúhǎi.

I'd love to be able to tell the lady who cuts my hair that I don’t like bangs.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 刂 (knife) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced liú

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 刘 (liú) mean in Chinese?
刘 (liú) primarily means "(classical) a type of battle-ax." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #751 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 刘 and 纹?
刘 (liú) and 纹 (wén) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 刂 vs 纟 (same 文 component).
How many strokes does 刘 have?
刘 is written with 6 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 刘?
The radical associated with 刘 is 刂 (knife). This radical appears in many characters related to knife.
What are the components of 刘?
刘 is composed of: 文 (phonetic), 刂 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰文刂 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 刘?
Common words with 刘 include: 刘海 (liú hǎi, "bangs"); 刘德华 (liú dé huá, "Andy Lau (1961-), Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actor"); 刘翔 (liú xiáng, "Liu Xiang (1983-), Chinese gold-medal hurdler of the 2004 Olympic Games"); 刘光第 (liú guāng dì, "Liu Guangdi (1859-1898), one of the Six Gentlemen Martyrs 戊戌六君子 of the unsuccessful reform mov..."); 刘天华 (liú tiān huá, "Liu Tianhua (1895-1932), Chinese musician and composer"). There are over 44 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 刘 (liú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation liú: 流 (to flow), 留 (to stay, to keep), 六 (six), 溜 (to slip away). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 刘 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 刘 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 刘 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.