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

(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 (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #751 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

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

Native pronunciation

Definitions

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

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticknife

Decomposition: ⿰文刂 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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
liú hǎibangs
liú dé huáAndy Lau (1961-), Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actor
liú xiángLiu Xiang (1983-), Chinese gold-medal hurdler of the 2004 Olympic Games
liú guāng dìLiu Guangdi (1859-1898), one of the Six Gentlemen Martyrs 戊戌六君子[Wu4 xu1 Liu4 jun1 zi5] of the unsuccessful reform mov...
liú tiān huáLiu Tianhua (1895-1932), Chinese musician and composer
liú xīn wǔLiu Xinwu (1942-), novelist
liú shào qíLiu Shaoqi (1898-1969), Chinese communist leader, a martyr of the Cultural Revolution
liú xiàngLiu Xiang (77-6 BC), Han Dynasty scholar and author
liú biǎoLiu Biao (142-208), warlord
liú ānLiu An (179-122 BC), King of Huainan under the Western Han, ordered the writing of the 淮南子[Huai2 nan2 zi5]
liú sòng shí dàiSong of the Southern dynasties (420-479), with capital at Nanjing
liú jīn bǎoLiu Jinbao (1952-), CEO of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) 1997-2003, jailed after being convicted of embezzlement
liú gōng dǎoLiugong island in the Yellow sea
liú guì jīnLiu Guijin (1945–), Chinese diplomat, ambassador to South Africa 2001–2007
liú jīLiu Ji or Liu Bowen 劉伯溫|刘伯温[Liu2 Bo2 wen1] (1311-1375), general under the first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang 朱元璋[Zhu1 Y...
45
Total compounds
98
As first character
0
As last character
2
As middle character

appears in 45 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

jūn
0.4893,276 co-occurrences
xiǎo
0.4837,518 co-occurrences
huàn
0.4692,718 co-occurrences
cōng
0.4633,006 co-occurrences
jùn
0.4611,836 co-occurrences
xuān
0.458942 co-occurrences
tāo
0.4483,054 co-occurrences
huī
0.4383,828 co-occurrences
xīn
0.4332,658 co-occurrences
qiān
0.4312,292 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习字需要反复练习,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 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

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 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 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

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

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

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

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 蚊?
刘 (liú) and 蚊 (wén) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 刂 vs 虫 (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[Wu4 xu1 Liu4 jun1 zi5] of the unsuccessful reform mov..."); 刘天华 (liú tiān huá, "Liu Tianhua (1895-1932), Chinese musician and composer"). There are over 45 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 刘 (liú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation liú: 溜 (to slip away), 浏 (clear), 流 (to flow), 留 (to stay, to keep), and 2 more. 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 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.