洲 (zhōu) is a Chinese character meaning “continent”. It is written from 氵 (water (left-side form)) and 州 (prefecture; state), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “continent”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
氵 + 州
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字·水部（大徐新附）：洲，水渚也。从水州聲；现代字形拆分已对照 hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 笔画数据核验（氵3 + 州6 = 9）
Memory aid
Water (氵) on the left, a 州 on the right: land with water running all around it. Small, that is an islet; big, that is a continent.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 亚洲yà zhōuAsia洲 = zhōu
- 欧洲Ōu zhōuEurope洲 = zhōu
Go deeper
All readings
continent
continent; a landmass surrounded by water; islet or sandbar in a river
水中的陆地；也指地球上的大陆板块，如亚洲、欧洲。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 亚洲yà zhōuAsia洲 = zhōu
- 欧洲Ōu zhōuEurope洲 = zhōu
Sound component
州 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 洲 mean?
洲 (zhōu) means continent; a landmass surrounded by water; islet or sandbar in a river.
How do you pronounce 洲?
It is pronounced zhōu.
What parts is 洲 made of?
氵 (water (left-side form)) and 州 (prefecture; state), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字·水部（大徐新附）：洲，水渚也。从水州聲；现代字形拆分已对照 hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 笔画数据核验（氵3 + 州6 = 9）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 洲 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 洲?
水. 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 洲?
Common ones are 亚洲 and 欧洲. The reading of 洲 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.