琉 (liú): precious stone

琉 (liú) is a Chinese character meaning “precious stone.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 王 (semantic) and 㐬 (phonetic). It ranks #3457 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 琉 jade. Its radical form 王 (jade) appears in many related characters such as 现 (xiàn, to appear), 球 (qiú, ball used for playing games (variant of 球)), 环 (huán, ring).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. precious stone

Etymology & Origin

琉

pictophoneticjade

Decomposition: ⿰王㐬 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
琉球proper-nounliú qiúRyūkyū
琉璃nounliú licolored glaze used in traditional Chinese architecture
琉球王国liú qiú wáng guóRyūkyū kingdom 1429-1879 (on modern Okinawa)
琉球国liú qiú guóRyūkyū kingdom 1429-1879 (on modern Okinawa)
琉球海liú qiú hǎiRyūkyū Sea
琉球群岛proper-nounliú qiú qún dǎoRyukyu Islands
阿喀琉斯proper-nounā kā liú sīAchilles (or Akhilleus or Achilleus), son of Thetis and Peleus, Greek hero central to the Iliad
琉球角鸮liú qiú jiǎo xiāo(bird species of China) Ryukyu scops owl (Otus elegans)
琉特琴nounliú tè qín(loanword) lute
琉球歌鸲liú qiú gē qú(bird species of China) Ryukyu robin (Larvivora komadori)
琉璃塔liú li tǎglazed pagoda
琉璃蓝鹟liú li lán wēng(bird species of China) Zappey's flycatcher (Cyanoptila cumatilis)
琉璃瓦nounliú li wǎglazed roof tile
琉璃苣liú lí jùborage (Borago officinalis)
琉璃庙liú lí miàoLiulimiao town in Beijing municipality
16
Total compounds
88
As first character
6
As last character
6
As middle character

琉 appears in 16 compound words: 88 as the first character, 6 as the last, and 6 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

阿喀琉斯Ākāliúsī

Achilles

琉球群岛Liúqiú Qúndǎo

Ryukyu Islands

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好琉字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo liú zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhèng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write the character "琉" correctly, you need to master the correct stroke order.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

透过当代失踪案,读者能看到五代十国的烛火,也能看到琉璃厂的昏黄灯光。

tòu guò dāng dài shī zōng àn , dòu zhě néng kàn dào wǔ dài shí guó de zhú huǒ , yě néng kàn dào liú lí hǎn de hūn huáng dēng guāng .

Through these contemporary missing-person cases, readers can catch a glimpse of the flickering candlelight of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, as well as the dim, yellow glow of Liulichang.

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

现存壁画55幅,分布于文昌宫、大宝积宫、琉璃殿和大定阁等建筑群中。

xiàn cún bì huà 5 5 fú , fēn bù yú wén chāng gōng , dà bǎo jī gōng , liú lí diàn hé dà dìng gé děng jiàn zhù qún zhōng .

There are 55 surviving murals, distributed among the Wenchang Palace, Dabaoji Palace, Liuli Hall, and Dading Pavilion complexes.

中国新闻网·文化May 2026

李泌戏为诗云:旋沫翻成碧玉池,添酥散出琉璃眼。

lǐ mì xì wéi shī yún : xuán mò fān chéng bì yù chí , tiān sū sàn chū liú lí yǎn .

Li Bi playfully composed a poem: “Whirling foam transforms into a pool of jade, and added cream drifts like eyes of crystal.”

中国新闻网·文化Apr 2026

夜幕降临,郡王府古建华灯次第亮起,琉璃青瓦、亭台水榭在暖光勾勒下更显雅致。

yè mù jiàng lín , jùn wáng fǔ gǔ jiàn huá dēng cì dì liàng qǐ , liú lí qīng wǎ , tíng tái shuǐ 榭 zài nuǎn guāng gōu lè xià gēng xiǎn yǎ zhì .

As night fell, the ornate lamps of the Prince’s Mansion began to light up one after another, and the glazed blue-green tiles, pavilions, and waterfront structures took on an even more elegant appearance under the warm glow.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 王 (jade) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced liú

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 琉 (liú) mean in Chinese?
琉 (liú) primarily means "precious stone." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3457 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 琉 and 梳?
琉 (liú) and 梳 (shū) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 王 vs 木 (same 㐬 component).
How many strokes does 琉 have?
琉 is written with 11 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 琉?
The radical associated with 琉 is 王 (jade). This radical appears in many characters related to jade.
What are the components of 琉?
琉 is composed of: 王 (semantic), 㐬 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰王㐬 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 琉?
Common words with 琉 include: 琉球 (liú qiú, "Ryūkyū"); 琉璃 (liú li, "colored glaze used in traditional Chinese architecture"); 琉球王国 (liú qiú wáng guó, "Ryūkyū kingdom 1429-1879 (on modern Okinawa)"); 琉球国 (liú qiú guó, "Ryūkyū kingdom 1429-1879 (on modern Okinawa)"); 琉球海 (liú qiú hǎi, "Ryūkyū Sea"). There are over 16 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 琉 (liú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation liú: 流 (to flow), 硫 (sulfur (chemistry)). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 琉 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 琉 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 琉 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.