球 (qiú): ball used for playing games (variant of 球), ball, sphere
球 (qiú) is a Chinese character meaning “ball used for playing games (variant of 球).” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 王 (semantic) and 求 (phonetic). It ranks #628 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 球 jade. Its radical form 王 (jade) appears in many related characters such as 玩 (wán, to play), 现 (xiàn, to appear), 班 (bān, team).
Definitions
- ball used for playing games (variant of 球)
- ball
- sphere
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 球 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 球
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 地球noun | dì qiú | the earth | 4 |
| 棒球noun | bàng qiú | baseball | 6 |
| 全球noun | quán qiú | the whole world | 4 |
| 篮球noun | lán qiú | basketball | 2 |
| 球队noun | qiú duì | sports team (basketball, soccer, football etc) | 4 |
| 足球noun | zú qiú | soccer | 2 |
| 球场noun | qiú chǎng | stadium | 3 |
| 网球noun | wǎng qiú | tennis | 3 |
| 月球noun | yuè qiú | the moon | 6 |
| 气球noun | qì qiú | balloon | 5 |
| 球迷noun | qiú mí | fan (ball sports) | 4 |
| 台球noun | tái qiú | billiards | 6 |
| 乒乓球noun | pīng pāng qiú | table tennis | 4 |
| 排球noun | pái qiú | volleyball | 4 |
| 羽毛球noun | yǔ máo qiú | badminton | 3 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 星球noun | xīng qiú | celestial body (e.g. planet, satellite etc) |
| 橄榄球 | gǎn lǎn qiú | football played with oval-shaped ball (rugby, American football, Australian rules etc) |
| 打球verb | dǎ qiú | to play ball |
| 球员noun | qiú yuán | (ball sports) player |
| 保龄球noun | bǎo líng qiú | ten-pin bowling (loanword) |
| 击球 | jī qiú | to bat |
| 传球verb | chuán qiú | (sports) to pass the ball |
| 曲棍球noun | qū gùn qiú | field hockey |
| 环球adjective | huán qiú | around the world |
| 高尔夫球 | gāo ěr fū qiú | golf |
| 眼球 | yǎn qiú | eyeball |
| 冰球noun | bīng qiú | ice hockey |
| 球赛noun | qiú sài | (ball sports) game |
| 好球noun | hǎo qiú | (ball sports) good shot! |
| 接球verb | jiē qiú | to receive a served ball (volleyball, tennis etc) |
球 appears in 113 compound words: 19 as the first character, 76 as the last, and 5 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 球 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (5)
Example Sentences
他有一个习惯，就是每天早上都会喝一杯温水。
Tā yǒu yī gè xíguàn, jiùshì měitiān zǎoshang dōu huì hē yī bēi wēnshuǐ.
He has a habit of drinking a glass of warm water every morning.
外媒:春节全球影响力持续扩大
wài méi : chūn jié quán qiú yǐng xiǎng lì chí xù kuò dà
Foreign media: The global influence of the Spring Festival continues to expand
东西问丨全球政要马年“集体说马” 背后藏着三重文化....
dōng xī wèn 丨 quán qiú zhèng yāo mǎ nián jí tī shuō mǎ bēi hòu zàng zhe sān chóng wén huā . . . .
Something to ask 丨 global dignitaries in the Year of the Horse "collective say horse" behind the hidden triple culture ....
青春志愿行 温暖糖球会——青岛公交2路青年党团员助..
qīng chūn zhì yuàn háng wēn nuǎn táng qiú huì qīng dǎo gōng jiāo lù qīng nián dǎng tuán yuán zhù . .
Youth Volunteerism Warm Sugar Ball--Qingdao Bus No.2 Youth Party Members Hel...
...岛恒星科技学院:产教融合协同出海,绘就全球化新图..
. . . dǎo héng xīng kē jì xué yuàn chǎn jiào róng gě xié tóng chū hǎi , huì jiù quán qiú huā xīn tú . .
Island Star Tech College: Integrating Industry and Education for Global Expansion, Charting a New Course for Globalization
南京江宁春节再传佳讯!全球首款轻量化肝脏脂肪定量检..
nán jīng jiāng nìng chūn jié zài chuán jiā xùn ! quán qiú shǒu kuǎn qīng liáng huā gān zāng zhī fáng dìng liáng jiǎn . .
Nanjing Jiangning Delivers More Good News During Spring Festival! World's First Lightweight Liver Fat Quantification Device...
你可以想象在月球上行走吗？
Nǐ kěyǐ xiǎngxiàng zài yuèqiú shàng xíngzǒu ma?
Can you imagine walking on the moon?
你昨天早上在打网球吗？
Nǐ zuótiān zǎoshang zài dǎ wǎngqiú ma?
Were you playing tennis yesterday morning?
你喜欢棒球到什么程度？
Nǐ xǐhuan bàngqiú dào shénme chéngdù?
To what degree are you interested in baseball?
我能预定一下打高尔夫球吗？
Wǒ néng yùdìng yīxià dǎgāo'ěrfūqiú ma?
Can I make a reservation for golf?
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 王 (jade) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 球 (qiú) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 球 and 救?
How many strokes does 球 have?
What is the radical of 球?
What are the components of 球?
What are common words containing 球?
What characters sound the same as 球 (qiú)?
Is 球 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 球 with real-time feedback
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