How to Write 俅 (qiú) — Meaning “Ornamental cap / Derung (ethnic group)”

Imagine a person (亻) who is seeking (求) a special ornamental cap to wear. The word 'seek' sounds like the pinyin qiú, so you can remember that this character describes someone looking for a fancy hat.

Write the left radical 亻 first (slash then vertical), then the right side 求: horizontal, vertical hook, dot, lift, left-falling, right-falling, dot. A common mistake is confusing 求 with 水 (water) – note that 求 has a vertical hook and a dot above the left-falling stroke.

伯 (bó) has 亻 plus 白 (white) and means 'uncle' or 'elder', while 估 (gū) has 亻 plus 古 (ancient) and means 'estimate'. 俅 uses 求, which has a vertical hook and a dot, unlike the flat top of 白 or the horizontal strokes of 古. Also, 俅 is very rare, used mainly for an ethnic group, while 伯 and 估 are common.

俅 appears almost exclusively in the term 俅人 (qiú rén), referring to the Derung ethnic minority group in Yunnan, China. It is not in the HSK list and rarely used in daily life, so you may see it in geography books or articles about ethnic minorities. The literary word 俅俅 (wearing a ceremonial cap) is archaic and seldom used today.

Common words containing 俅 include: 俅人 (qiú rén) — Derung people (an ethnic group in China); 俅俅 (qiú qiú) — wearing a ceremonial cap (literary); 俅江 (qiú jiāng) — Qiujiang River.