岖 (qū) is a Chinese character meaning “rugged”. It is written from 山 (mountain) and 区 (area, district), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “rugged, uneven ground”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
山 + 区
Left–right structure
Structure from: Unicode U+5C96 与 hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 现代字形核验（⿰山区，3+4=7 笔）；声符判定依据 岖 qū 与 区 qū 读音完全一致
Memory aid
A mountain (山) carved up into districts (区) — every block sits at a different height, so the path keeps climbing and dropping. 岖 is rugged ground.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 崎岖qí qūrugged; rough and uneven (of a road or terrain)岖 = qū
Go deeper
All readings
rugged
rugged; rough and uneven — used of mountain paths and terrain, almost always in 崎岖
（山路）高低不平、不好走。几乎只用在「崎岖」里。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 崎岖qí qūrugged; rough and uneven (of a road or terrain)岖 = qū
Sound component
区 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 岖 mean?
岖 (qū) means rugged; rough and uneven — used of mountain paths and terrain, almost always in 崎岖.
How do you pronounce 岖?
It is pronounced qū.
What parts is 岖 made of?
山 (mountain) and 区 (area, district), side by side. The recorded source is: Unicode U+5C96 与 hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 现代字形核验（⿰山区，3+4=7 笔）；声符判定依据 岖 qū 与 区 qū 读音完全一致. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 岖 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 岖?
山. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 岖?
Common ones are 崎岖. The reading of 岖 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.