(qiú): to seek, to look for, to request

(qiú) is a Chinese character meaning “to seek.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #312 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to seek
  2. to look for
  3. to request

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verb/nounyāo qiúto request3
verb/nounqǐng qiúto request5
verbzhuī qiúto pursue (a goal etc) stubbornly5
verbqiú hūnto propose marriage6
verbxún qiúto seek6
nounxū qiúrequirement5
verbqiú jiùto seek help (when in distress or having difficulties)6
verbqiú zhùto request help6
verbzhēng qiúto solicit6
verbqiú zhíto seek employment6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qí qiúto pray for
kěn qiúto beg
mèng mèi yǐ qiúlit. to yearn for sth even in one's dreams (idiom)
qǐ qiúto beg
qiú shēngto seek survival
kě qiúto long for
qiú ráoto beg forgiveness
qiú àito woo
āi qiúto entreat
qiú qíngto plea for leniency
qiú yuánto ask for help
chuī máo qiú cīlit. to blow apart the hairs upon a fur to discover any defect (idiom)
qiǎng qiúto insist on
lì qiúto make every effort to
qiú zhèngto seek proof
100
Total compounds
38
As first character
45
As last character
17
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 38 as the first character, 45 as the last, and 17 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.

yāo
0.718941,856 co-occurrences
qǐng
0.612104,394 co-occurrences
0.605206,459 co-occurrences
xún
0.56246,553 co-occurrences
zhuī
0.553104,130 co-occurrences
0.52320,424 co-occurrences
kěn
0.5144,001 co-occurrences
mèi
0.5032,304 co-occurrences
lóng
0.45410 co-occurrences
0.4507,980 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (28)

bùqiúshènjiěHSK 4+

to not seek deep understanding; to know things only on a superficial level

phrase
chuīmáoqiúcīHSK 7+

to nitpick; to pick holes; to cavel at

phrase
fǎnqiúzhūjǐHSK 6+

to self-reflect; to engage in self-examination

phrase
gōngbùyìngqiúHSK 4+

be in short supply

phrase
gōngguòyúqiúHSK 4+

to have an oversupply; the supply exceeds the demand

phrase
jíyúqiúchéngHSK 3+

to be too eager for success or accomplishments

phrase
jīngyìqiújīngHSK 5+

to keep on improving; to constantly improve

phrase
kǔ kǔ āi qiúHSK 7+

to entreat piteously; to implore

phrase
mèngmèiyǐqiúHSK 7+

to desire strongly; to crave; to long for

phrase
qiú dào yú mángHSK 6+

see 問道於盲|问道于盲[wen4 dao4 yu2 mang2]

phrase
qiú quán zé bèiHSK 4+

to demand perfection (idiom)

phrase
qiú tián wèn shèHSK 6+

lit. to be interested exclusively in the acquisition of estate (idiom); fig. to have no lofty aspirations in life

phrase

Showing 12 of 28 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

站在桥上望去,水缓缓向东流去。

zhàn zài qiáo shǎng wàng qù , qiú shuǐ huǎn huǎn xiàng dōng liú qù .

Standing on the bridge, one can see the river flowing gently eastward.

99 健康网Feb 2026

低糖食品有哪些?糖尿病患者和减肥人群需不同吗

dī táng shí pǐn yǒu nǎ xiē ? táng niào bìng huàn zhě hé jiǎn féi rén qún xū qiú bù tóng ma

What are the low-sugar foods? Do diabetics and weight loss people have different needs?

Am730Feb 2026

夜王|郑秀文被要胸部垫Pad演V姐 Sammi..每边d...

yè wáng zhèng xiù wén bèi yāo qiú xiōng bù diàn P a d yǎn V jiě S a m m i . . měi biān d . . .

Night King|Sammi Cheng was asked to play Sister V with a pad on her chest. Each side d...

UnwireFeb 2026

...队难敌网约平台 业界洽谈高德滴滴“挂单”

. . . duì nán dí wǎng yuē píng tái yè jiè qià tán gāo dé dī dī guà dān qiú shēng

... The team is difficult to compete with the online dating platform, and the industry is negotiating AutoNavi Didi's "pending order" to survive

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

AI带旺需...陆光通讯厂畅旺 订单排到Q4

A I dài wàng xū qiú . . . lù guāng tōng xùn hǎn chàng wàng dìng dān pái dào Q 4

AI drives demand... Luguang Communication Factory is prosperous, and orders are scheduled to Q4

百度新闻Feb 2026

跨区出行需活跃,冬奥会带火冰雪旅游热

kuà qū chū háng xū qiú huó yuè , dōng ào huì dài huǒ bīng xuě lǚ yóu rè

The demand for cross-regional travel is active, and the Winter Olympics will bring fire to ice and snow tourism

Tatoeba

那位职者能胜任工作吗?

Nà wèi qiúzhízhě néng shèngrèn gōngzuò ma?

Does the applicant have suitable abilities to carry out the job?

Tatoeba

可以说说您的具体要吗?

Kěyǐ shuōshuo nín de jùtǐ yāoqiú ma?

Could you tell me what your specific requirements are?

Tatoeba

用圆周能不能得直径?

Yòng yuánzhōu néng bù néng qiúdé zhíjìng?

Is it possible to determine the diameter from the circumference?

Tatoeba

若汤姆请你的话,你是会做的,不是吗?

Ruò tāng mǔ qǐngqiú nǐ dehuà, nǐ shì huì zuò de, bù shì ma?

You'd do that if Tom asked you to, wouldn't you?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced qiú

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 求 (qiú) mean in Chinese?
求 (qiú) primarily means "to seek." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #312 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 求 have?
求 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 求?
The radical associated with 求 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 求?
求 is composed of: 一 (structural), 氺 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻一氺 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 求?
Common words with 求 include: 要求 (yāo qiú, "to request"); 请求 (qǐng qiú, "to request"); 追求 (zhuī qiú, "to pursue (a goal etc) stubbornly"); 求婚 (qiú hūn, "to propose marriage"); 寻求 (xún qiú, "to seek"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 求 (qiú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qiú: 仇 (hatred), 丘 (mound), 秋 (autumn), 囚 (prisoner), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 求 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 求 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.