How to Write 朐 (qú) — Meaning “Qu (a place name); dried meat”

Imagine a piece of meat (月) that has been cut into a neat, squared section (句) to make dried meat. You can also think of "Qu" as the name of a place famous for its dried meat snacks, linking the pronunciation qú to the shape.

Pay attention to the width: the left radical 月 (flesh variant) is narrower than the right part 句. The right side starts with a short stroke inside the enclosure, and the final vertical stroke of 句 should extend slightly below the left side. A common mistake is making the 月 too wide or writing the vertical stroke of 句 too short.

朐 has the radical 月 (meat) with 句 on the right, while 朊 has 月 plus 元 (yuán, origin), meaning something to do with flesh but is rarely used today. 朋 is entirely different: it consists of two 月 side by side (meaning "friend") and is a very common character, whereas 朐 is obscure. Visually, 朐 has an enclosed right side (句), but 朋 has two identical open halves.

朐 is not common and appears mostly in place names, such as 临朐 (Línqú), a county in Shandong province. It can also refer to "dried meat" in classical or written contexts, but this usage is very rare today. You are unlikely to encounter 朐 outside of geographic names or historical texts.

Common words containing 朐 include: 临朐 (lín qú) — Linqu (a county in Shandong); 朐 (qú) — Qu (a place name); dried meat; 朐肉 (qú ròu) — Dried meat.