漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements
秋: autumn
禾 carries the meaning · 火 is drawn in
Oracle bone · Shang Bronze · Shang Today
Oracle bone and bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two readings, and the words that use each
シュウshuu · on'yomi · in compounds
- 秋分しゅうぶんautumn equinox
- 今秋こんしゅうthis autumn; this fall; autumn of this year
- 昨秋さくしゅうautumn of last year; fall of last year
- 春秋しゅんじゅうspring and autumn; spring and fall
- 秋季しゅうきfall season; autumn season
あきaki · kun'yomi · on its own
- 秋あきautumn
- 秋風あきかぜautumn breeze
- 秋学期あきがっきautumn semester/quarter
Also read とき, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0 · JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where it comes from
Origin · sourced
Phono-semantic compound (形聲)禾 grain (meaning) + 𤒅 (sound)
The oracle bone forms and bronze inscriptions show the pictogram (象形) of a cricket or a locust, sometimes with a fire 火 glyph underneath. In its later form, became a Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 禾 (“grain”) + abbreviated phonetic 𤒅.
Source: Wiktionary, 秋 (rev. 93297053), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Grain (禾) + fire (火). The season when the "grain" turns the color of "fire"—the beautiful golden autumn.”
Connections
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · qiū
Same form: 秋 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 秋 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 秋 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin qiū most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.