丘 (qiū): mound, hillock, grave

丘 (qiū) is a Chinese character meaning “mound.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 斤 (structural) and 一 (structural). It ranks #1905 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, 丘 two hills. Its radical form 一 (one) appears in many related characters such as 一 (yī, one), 七 (qī, seven), 三 (sān, three).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. mound
  2. hillock
  3. grave

Etymology & Origin

丘

pictographicTwo hills

Decomposition: ⿱斤一 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
山丘nounshān qiūhill
沙丘nounshā qiūsand dune
丘吉尔proper-nounqiū jí ěrvariant of 邱吉爾|邱吉尔
下丘脑nounxià qiū nǎohypothalamus (anatomy)
丘陵nounqiū línghills
马丘比丘proper-nounmǎ qiū bǐ qiūMachu Picchu
土丘nountǔ qiūmound
丘疹nounqiū zhěnpimple
小丘nounxiǎo qiūhill
丘脑nounqiū nǎothalamus
克拉夫丘克kè lā fū qiū kèLeonid Kravchuk (1934-), first post-communist president of Ukraine 1991-1994
丘比特proper-nounqiū bǐ tèCupid, son of Venus and Mars, Roman god of love and beauty
下视丘nounxià shì qiū(anatomy) hypothalamus (Tw)
任丘市rén qiū shìRenqiu, a county-level city in Cangzhou City 滄州市|沧州市, Hebei
安丘市ān qiū shìAnqiu, a county-level city in Weifang City 濰坊市|潍坊市, Shandong
60
Total compounds
25
As first character
42
As last character
33
As middle character

丘 appears in 60 compound words: 25 as the first character, 42 as the last, and 33 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 丘 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

陵líng
0.63114,154 co-occurrences
浅qiǎn
0.5001,664 co-occurrences
比bǐ
0.44512,666 co-occurrences
瑕xiá
0.441286 co-occurrences
沙shā
0.4415,372 co-occurrences
山shān
0.41313,801 co-occurrences
脑nǎo
0.408846 co-occurrences
皮pí
0.3882,558 co-occurrences
坟fén
0.377184 co-occurrences
吉jí
0.3722,988 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

华屋丘墟huá wū qiū xūHSK 7+

magnificent building reduced to a mound of rubble (idiom); fig. all one's plans in ruins

phrase
马丘比丘MǎqiūbǐqiūHSK 7+

Machu Picchu (an ancient Incan city and archaeological site in Peru)

放情丘壑fàng qíng qiū hèHSK 7+

to enjoy oneself in nature's embrace (idiom)

phrase
胸有丘壑xiōng yǒu qiū hèHSK 7+

far-sighted; astute

phrase
一丘之貉yīqiūzhīhéHSK 7+

people of the same ilk; birds of a feather

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

丘字的写法很特别,让我印象深刻。

qiū zì de xiě fǎ hěn tè bié , ràng wǒ yìn xiàng shēn kè .

The way the character "丘" is written is quite unique and has left a deep impression on me.

BastillepostApr 2026

丘应桦:出海专班助内企分析各地政治环境 确...

qiū yīng 桦 : chū hǎi zhuān bān zhù nèi qǐ fēn xī gè dì zhèng zhì huán jìng què . . .

Qiu Yinghua: Special Task Force Helps Domestic Enterprises Analyze Local Political Environments to Ensure...

SmzdmMar 2026

11.23日实拍,虎丘已经进入最佳观赏期 #虎丘塔 #苏式建筑...

1 1 . 2 3 rì shí pāi , hǔ qiū yǐ jīng jìn rù zuì jiā guàn shǎng qī hǔ qiū tǎ sū shì jiàn zhù . . .

Photos taken on November 23—Huqiu is now at its peak viewing season #HuqiuTower #SuzhouArchitecture...

99 健康网Mar 2026

女生得了闭经怎么调理?过度节食导致下丘脑性闭经能恢复吗

nǚ shēng dé le bì jīng zěn má diào lǐ ? guò dù jié shí dǎo zhì xià qiū nǎo xìng bì jīng néng huī fù ma

How to treat girls with amenorrhea? Can hypothalamic amenorrhea be restored due to excessive dieting?

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

(新春走基层)山西灵丘:“空中菜园”变课堂 让知识从泥土里“长...

( xīn chūn zǒu jī céng ) shān xī líng qiū : kōng zhōng cài yuán biàn kè táng ràng zhī shí cóng ní tǔ lǐ cháng . . .

Lingqiu, Shanxi: "Air Vegetable Garden" Turns into a Classroom Let Knowledge "Grow" from the soil...

Tatoeba

他迈着稳健的步伐登上了山丘。

Tā mài zhe wěnjiàn de bùfá dēngshàng le shānqiū.

He was walking up the hill at a steady pace.

Tatoeba

孩子们跑下了山丘。

Háizimen pǎo xià le shānqiū.

The children ran down the hill.

Tatoeba

咱俩也就是一丘之貉。

Zánliǎ yějiùshì yīqiūzhīhé.

Apparently we're just two peas in a pod.

Tatoeba

一条小路跨过桥梁,穿过田野,还爬上小丘。

Yī tiáo xiǎolù kuàguò qiáoliáng, chuānguò tiányě, hái páshàng xiǎoqiū.

A small road ran across the bridge, through the fields, and over a hill.

Tatoeba

河在山丘的另一端。

Hé zài shānqiū de lìngyī duān.

The river's on the other side of the hill.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced qiū

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 丘 (qiū) mean in Chinese?
丘 (qiū) primarily means "mound." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1905 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 丘 have?
丘 is written with 5 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 丘?
The radical associated with 丘 is 一 (one). This radical appears in many characters related to one.
What are the components of 丘?
丘 is composed of: 斤 (structural), 一 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱斤一 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 丘?
Common words with 丘 include: 山丘 (shān qiū, "hill"); 沙丘 (shā qiū, "sand dune"); 丘吉尔 (qiū jí ěr, "variant of 邱吉爾|邱吉尔"); 下丘脑 (xià qiū nǎo, "hypothalamus (anatomy)"); 丘陵 (qiū líng, "hills"). There are over 60 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 丘 (qiū)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qiū: 求 (to seek), 球 (ball used for playing games (variant of 球)), 秋 (autumn), 囚 (prisoner). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 丘 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 丘 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 丘 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.