How to Write 鼩 (qú) — Meaning “Shrew”

Imagine a tiny shrew (鼠) that loves to repeat short, squeaky sentences (句) – it's always chattering, so you remember 'shrew' as 'mouse + sentence'. The right part 句 sounds like 'queue' (qú in pinyin), which can help you recall the pronunciation.

The left radical 鼠 has 13 strokes and is quite complex; be careful to write the small tail and the four dots (representing legs) clearly. The right part 句 has 5 strokes and must be written compactly so the whole character stays balanced. A common mistake is making the 鼠 part too wide, which pushes 句 out of alignment.

All three share the 鼠 radical but have different right-side components and meanings: 鼩 (shrew) uses 句, 鼢 (fén, mole) uses 分, and 鼬 (yòu, weasel) uses 由. Visually, 鼩 looks like 'mouse + sentence', while 鼢 is 'mouse + divide' and 鼬 is 'mouse + reason'. In usage, they refer to different small mammals: shrew, mole, and weasel.

The character 鼩 is rarely used alone in daily life; it appears mainly in the compound word 鼩鼱 (qú jīng, meaning 'shrew'). You might encounter it in biology textbooks or nature documentaries when describing small insectivorous mammals. It is not part of the HSK vocabulary, so learners will mostly see it in specialized contexts.

Common words containing 鼩 include: 鼩鼱 (qú jīng) — Shrew; 鼩鼠 (qú shǔ) — Shrew; 水鼩 (shuǐ qú) — Water shrew.