粥 (zhōu): congee, gruel, porridge, CL:碗[wan3]
粥 (zhōu) is a Chinese character meaning “congee.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 弓 (structural), 米 (structural) and 弓 (structural). It ranks #2758 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 粥 steaming 弓 rice 米. Its radical form 米 (rice) appears in many related characters such as 米 (mǐ, uncooked rice), 类 (lèi, kind), 精 (jīng, essence).
Definitions
- congee
- gruel
- porridge
- Classifier: 碗[wan3]
Etymology & Origin
ideographicSteaming 弓 rice 米
Decomposition: ⿲弓米弓 (layout: left-middle-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 粥 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一锅粥 | yī guō zhōu | (lit.) a pot of porridge |
| 稀粥 | xī zhōu | water gruel |
| 僧多粥少 | sēng duō zhōu shǎo | lit. many monks and not much gruel (idiom) |
| 米粥 | mǐ zhōu | congee |
| 血管粥样硬化 | xuè guǎn zhōu yàng yìng huà | atherosclerosis |
| 动脉粥样硬化 | dòng mài zhōu yàng yìng huà | atherosclerosis |
| 粥样硬化 | zhōu yàng yìng huà | atherosclerosis |
| 一颗老鼠屎坏了一锅粥 | yī kē lǎo shǔ shǐ huài le yī guō zhōu | see 一粒老鼠屎壞了一鍋粥|一粒老鼠屎坏了一锅粥[yi1 li4 lao3 shu3 shi3 huai4 le5 yi1 guo1 zhou1] |
| 一粒老鼠屎坏了一锅粥 | yī lì lǎo shǔ shǐ huài le yī guō zhōu | lit. one pellet of rat feces spoiled the whole pot of congee (idiom) |
| 粥少僧多 | zhōu shǎo sēng duō | see 僧多粥少[seng1 duo1 zhou1 shao3] |
| 八宝粥 | bā bǎo zhōu | rice congee made with red beans, lotus seeds, longan, red dates, nuts etc |
| 施粥舍饭 | shī zhōu shě fàn | to provide alms and rice (idiom) |
| 白粥 | bái zhōu | plain rice congee |
| 煲电话粥 | bāo diàn huà zhōu | to talk endlessly on the phone |
| 腊八粥 | là bā zhōu | Laba congee, ceremonial rice porridge dish eaten on the 8th day of the 12th month in the Chinese calendar |
粥 appears in 21 compound words: 19 as the first character, 62 as the last, and 19 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 粥 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
Example Sentences
粥字由12笔画组成，结构很巧妙。
yù zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .
The character for "congee" consists of 12 strokes and has a very clever structure.
营养师提醒:千万别再白粥配馒头,看似健康实则有3大隐患
yíng yǎng shī tí xǐng : qiān wàn bié zài bái zhōu pèi mán tóu , kàn sì jiàn kāng shí zé yǒu 3 dà yǐn huàn
Nutritionist reminds: Don't eat white porridge with steamed buns, it seems to be healthy, but it actually has 3 hidden dangers
...人勃不起是什么原因引起的呢?吸烟导致动脉粥样硬化加速吗
. . . rén bó bù qǐ shì shén má yuán yīn yǐn qǐ de ne ? xī yān dǎo zhì dòng mài zhōu yàng yìng huà jiā sù ma
... What causes people to have an erection? Does smoking cause atherosclerosis to accelerate?
营养师提醒:别再白粥配馒头,营养单一隐患多!
yíng yǎng shī tí xǐng : bié zài bái zhōu pèi mán tóu , yíng yǎng dān yī yǐn huàn duō !
Nutritionist reminds: Don't use white porridge with steamed buns, there are many hidden dangers in a single nutrition!
...露糖水!仅5粒芋头+极少西米 网民嘲赈灾粥
. . . lù táng shuǐ ! jǐn 5 lì 芋 tóu jí shǎo xī mǐ wǎng mín cháo 赈 zāi zhōu
... Sugar water! Only 5 grains of taro + very little sago Netizens ridiculed the disaster relief porridge
我每天早晨吃一碗麦片粥。
Wǒ měitiān zǎochén chī yī wǎn màipiàn zhōu.
Every morning I eat a bowl of oatmeal.
会场内，掌声、哨声、喊声、笑声乱成了一锅粥。
Huìchǎng nèi, zhǎngshēng, shào shēng, hǎnshēng, xiàoshēng luàn chéngle yīguōzhōu.
Inside the venue, sounds of clapping, whistling, yelling, laughing blended together.
我一天吃了三次黑米粥！
Wǒ yī tiān chī le sāncì hēi mǐzhōu!
I've had black rice congee thrice in one day!
唯有加很多糖才能让我喝得下粥。
Wéiyǒu jiā hěn duō táng cái néng ràng wǒ hēdexià zhōu.
The only way I can eat porridge is with lots of sugar.
俗话说：高丽菜汤和粥是我们的食物。
Súhuàshuō: gāolícài tāng hé yù shì wǒmen de shíwù.
There is a saying: cabbage soup and porridge are our food.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 粥 (zhōu) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 粥 have?
What is the radical of 粥?
What are the components of 粥?
What are common words containing 粥?
Is 粥 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 粥 with real-time feedback
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