Skip to content

Chinese name character

Chinese name character 洲

zhōu

The character 洲 (Mandarin zhōu) appears in 2 names and 2 syllables in this reference and is spelled Cheu and Chew in Malaysia. Recorded meanings include “continent; islet in a river” and “continent, island in a river”.

Names and syllables
4
Malaysian spellings
2
Strokes
9
Attested in records
3

4 names and syllables in this reference have 洲 as one of their character options. For 3 of them, 洲 is attested in records of real names; the rest are possible characters for that spelling.

Meanings of 洲: the recorded options

  • continent; islet in a river

    in 2 character options · attested

  • continent, island in a river

    in 2 character options · attested

Unihan definition: continent; island; islet

What a name means depends on the characters the family chose and how they combine; these are options, not one definite meaning.

Malaysian spellings of 洲

洲 Cheu Hokkien Chew Hokkien · Teochew
洲 yields 2 spellings in our records. The label under each spelling is the romanization it follows, not the bearer’s dialect.
SpellingRomanization
CheuHokkien
ChewHokkien · Teochew

Readings of 洲 by dialect

DialectReadingMalaysian spelling
HokkienPe̍h-ōe-jī chiu Cheu, Chew
TeochewPeng’im ziu1 Chew
MandarinHanyu Pinyin zhōu –

Readings from the character options in our name records; Unihan gives Mandarin zhōu and Cantonese zau1.

2 names that can be written with 洲

2 syllables that can stand for 洲

Sources

  1. Wiktionary: 洲 · en.wiktionary.org · meaning
  2. MDBG: 洲 · mdbg.net · meaning
  3. Unicode Unihan Database: U+6D32 · unicode.org · meaning

Readings, meanings and stroke count: the character options in our name records and the Unicode Unihan Database (Unicode License). A spelling describes how a name is written, not anyone’s dialect or background.

More

Frequently asked questions

What does 洲 mean in a name?

Our records give several meanings for 洲, including “continent; islet in a river” and “continent, island in a river”. What a name actually means depends on the characters the family chose and how they combine.

How is 洲 spelled in Malaysia?

In our records 洲 is spelled Cheu (Hokkien) and Chew (Hokkien, Teochew). A spelling follows a dialect’s romanization; it does not show which dialect anyone speaks.

Is every Cheu written 洲?

Not necessarily. The spelling Cheu can also stand for 周, 秋. Only the family knows which character was chosen.