How to Write 洲 (zhōu) — Meaning “Continent; island in a river”

Think of the three dots of water (氵) flowing around three little land strips (州 looks like three vertical strokes with dots). Picture three small islands in a river coming together to form a big continent—that is 洲.

After the three-dot water radical, write 州 with six strokes: dot, vertical, dot, vertical, dot, vertical. Keep the three vertical strokes evenly spaced and slightly curved, not too straight. A common mistake is making the right part too narrow or the dots misaligned.

洲 has 州 on the right, which contains three vertical strokes and three dots. 汧 has 开 (kāi) on the right, which looks like two horizontal lines crossed by a vertical line. Their meanings are also different: 洲 means continent or river island, while 汧 is an ancient river name.

洲 appears in continent names like 亚洲 (Asia) and 欧洲 (Europe). You also see it in geography terms like 五大洲 (the five continents) or 沙洲 (sandbar). Although it's not in the HSK vocabulary list, you will encounter it when studying world geography or traveling.

Common words containing 洲 include: 亚洲 (yà zhōu) — Asia; 欧洲 (ōu zhōu) — Europe; 五大洲 (wǔ dà zhōu) — the five continents.