昼 (zhòu): daytime

昼 (zhòu) is a Chinese character meaning “daytime.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 尺 (structural) and 旦 (structural). It ranks #2526 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 昼 when the sun is a foot 尺 above the horizon 旦. Its radical form 日 (sun) appears in many related characters such as 日 (rì, sun, day), 早 (zǎo, early, morning), 时 (shí, time, hour).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. daytime

Etymology & Origin

昼

ideographicWhen the sun is a foot 尺 above the horizon 旦

Decomposition: ⿵尺旦 (layout: surround-from-top)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
昼夜nounzhòu yèday and night
白昼nounbái zhòudaytime
昼夜平分点nounzhòu yè píng fēn diǎnthe equinox
不分昼夜bù fēn zhòu yèday and night
昼行性zhòu xíng xìngdiurnality
昼夜节律nounzhòu yè jié lǜcircadian rhythm
昼伏夜出verbzhòu fú yè chūnocturnal
夜行昼伏yè xíng zhòu fúto travel at night and lie low by day (idiom)
俾昼作夜bǐ zhòu zuò yèto make day as night (idiom, from Book of Songs)
俾夜作昼bǐ yè zuò zhòulit. to make night as day (idiom)
极昼jí zhòupolar day
卜昼卜夜bǔ zhòu bǔ yèday and night (to toil, to abandon oneself to pleasure etc)
12
Total compounds
42
As first character
25
As last character
33
As middle character

昼 appears in 12 compound words: 42 as the first character, 25 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 昼 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

夜yè
0.6043,970 co-occurrences
寝qǐn
0.43352 co-occurrences
温wēn
0.427358 co-occurrences
差chā
0.398321 co-occurrences
白bái
0.381602 co-occurrences
极jí
0.381206 co-occurrences
伏fú
0.381124 co-occurrences
驰chí
0.37224 co-occurrences
奋fèn
0.35930 co-occurrences
歼jiān
0.35726 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

卜昼卜夜bǔ zhòu bǔ yèHSK 7+

day and night (to toil, to abandon oneself to pleasure etc)

phrase
不分昼夜bù fēn zhòu yèHSK 7+

day and night; round-the-clock

phrase
夜行昼伏yè xíng zhòu fúHSK 7+

to travel at night and lie low by day (idiom)

phrase
昼伏夜出zhòufúyèchūHSK 7+

to hide by day and come out at night

verb
俾昼作夜bǐ zhòu zuò yèHSK 7+

to make day as night (idiom, from Book of Songs); fig. to prolong one's pleasure regardless of the hour

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

昼夜交替,四季轮回。

Zhòuyè jiāotì, sìjì lúnhuí.

Day and night alternate, seasons cycle.

IT之家Aug 2026

按照这个比例,一次完整的昼夜循环 需要 144 分钟 ,也就是略多于 2 小时。

àn zhào zhè gè bǐ lì , yī cì wán zhěng de zhòu yè xún huán xū yāo 1 4 4 fēn zhōng , yě jiù shì lüè duō yú 2 xiǎo shí .

Based on this ratio, a complete day-night cycle takes 144 minutes, or slightly more than 2 hours.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

处暑昼夜温差变大,早晚微凉,可适当温补,而龙眼偏温性,有益心脾,能补气血。

chǔ shǔ zhòu yè wēn chā biàn dà , zǎo wǎn wēi liáng , kě shì dāng wēn bǔ , ér lóng yǎn piān wēn xìng , yǒu yì xīn pí , néng bǔ qì xiě .

During the "End of Heat" solar term, the temperature difference between day and night widens, and it feels slightly cool in the mornings and evenings. This is a good time to take mildly warming tonics; longan, which has a warm nature, benefits the heart and spleen and helps replenish qi and blood.

IT之家Aug 2026

顺丰无人车已在深圳实现昼夜常态化规模化运营

shùn fēng wú rén chē yǐ zài shēn zhèn shí xiàn zhòu yè cháng tài huà guī mó huà yùn yíng

SF Express’s autonomous vehicles have achieved routine, large-scale, round-the-clock operations in Shenzhen

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

夏季夜间气温高、昼长夜短,这些天气特点更容易干扰睡眠。

xià jì yè jiān qì wēn gāo , zhòu cháng yè duǎn , zhè xiē tiān qì tè diǎn gēng róng yì gān rǎo shuì mián .

In the summer, nighttime temperatures are high and days are long while nights are short; these weather conditions can more easily disrupt sleep.

It之家Mar 2026

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. . . a x fēng chí bǎn shǒu jī dēng lù guān wǎng : jí yè hēi jí zhòu jīn shuāng pèi sè , zuì gāo 1 6 G B 1 T B guī gé

...ax Wind Speed Edition smartphone now available on the official website: Midnight Black / Midnight Gold color options, up to 16GB RAM + 1TB storage

Tatoeba

这段时间昼夜温差很大。

Zhè duàn shíjiān zhòuyè wēnchā hěn dà.

There is a large temperature difference between day and night during this period of time.

Tatoeba

你这样不分昼夜地工作,将会伤害自己的健康。

Nǐ zhèyàng bùfēnzhòuyè de gōngzuò, jiānghuì shānghài zìjǐ de jiànkāng.

If you work day and night, you will lose your health.

Tatoeba

春天白昼变长了。

Chūntiān báizhòu biàn cháng le.

In spring the days get longer.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhòu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 昼 (zhòu) mean in Chinese?
昼 (zhòu) primarily means "daytime." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2526 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 昼 have?
昼 is written with 9 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 昼?
The radical associated with 昼 is 日 (sun). This radical appears in many characters related to sun.
What are the components of 昼?
昼 is composed of: 尺 (structural), 旦 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿵尺旦 with a surround-from-top layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 昼?
Common words with 昼 include: 昼夜 (zhòu yè, "day and night"); 白昼 (bái zhòu, "daytime"); 昼夜平分点 (zhòu yè píng fēn diǎn, "the equinox"); 不分昼夜 (bù fēn zhòu yè, "day and night"); 昼行性 (zhòu xíng xìng, "diurnality"). There are over 12 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 昼 (zhòu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhòu: 周 (week, around), 州 (prefecture), 洲 (continent), 宙 (eternity), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 昼 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 昼 and the traditional form is 晝.

Practice writing 昼 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.