周
zhōu HSK2

cycle

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approved by Prismcool · Oct 20, 2026, 07:19 AM · Reviewed by Prismcool on Oct 20, 2026, 07:19 AM

Changed entry

Changed fields: hint

Original meaning: to carve jade

Depicts a carved jade object, now written as 彫/琱. The meaning later shifted to "circumference" and "cycle". Later the distinguishing mark 口 was added. In simplified Chinese 周 is also used to mean "week", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character 週.

Components

◎
◎ Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a jade object that has been carved.

口
口 Distinguishing component
kǒu, kou mouth

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Qin 221-206 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsyuwtiw Zhōu (dynasty and place)
tsyuwtiw cycle; all around

說文解字

《說文》：“周，密也。从用、口。，古文周字从古文及。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.99-100林志強、田勝男、葉玉英《《文源》評注》p.134漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)