麴 (qū): surname Qu

麴 (qū) is a Chinese character meaning “surname qu.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 麥 (semantic) and 匊 (phonetic). It ranks #5422 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 麴 wheat. Its radical form 麦 (wheat) appears in many related characters such as 麦 (mài, wheat).

Spoken pronunciation
Radical: 麦 wheat19 strokesFrequency #5422麥 semantic匊 phonetic

Definitions

  1. surname Qu

Etymology & Origin

麴

pictophoneticwheat

Decomposition: ⿰麥匊 (layout: left-right)

Components:麥semantic匊phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
米麴菌mǐ qū jūnAspergillus oryzae (type of mold)
1
Total compounds
0
As first character
0
As last character
100
As middle character

麴 appears in 1 compound words: 0 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 100 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个麴字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gè Qū zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

In Classical Chinese, the character "麴" has different meanings.

Character Family

麦 Radical Family — Characters sharing the wheat radical

麦mài

Related Characters

麦mài

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 麴 (qū) mean in Chinese?
麴 (qū) primarily means "surname qu." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #5422 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 麴 and 菊?
麴 (qū) and 菊 (jú) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 麦 vs 艹 (same 匊 component).
How many strokes does 麴 have?
麴 is written with 19 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 麴?
The radical associated with 麴 is 麦 (wheat). This radical appears in many characters related to wheat.
What are the components of 麴?
麴 is composed of: 麥 (semantic), 匊 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰麥匊 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 麴?
Common words with 麴 include: 米麴菌 (mǐ qū jūn, "Aspergillus oryzae (type of mold)"). There are over 1 compound words containing this character.
Is 麴 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 麴 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 麴 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

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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.