How to say qiu

qiu in its 3 tones, said in a female or a male voice. Tap a tone to hear it.

qiu

Tap a tone to hear it; tap it again to hear it slower.

Voice

How to say it

q: Said like j but with a strong puff of air: close to the ch in “cheap”, with the tongue tip down behind the lower teeth.

iou: Written iu after a consonant (liu, jiu): a short o is said between the i and the u, most clearly in the third and fourth tones.

Its tones

qiū 秋 autumn · qiú 球 ball · qiǔ 糗 embarrassing. qiù isn’t used in standard Mandarin. The pinyin trainer practices telling them apart in real words.

Spelling

iou is written iu after a consonant.

Sounds near it

Learners often mix qiu up with these. Listen to them one after the other.

Words with qiu

The voices are generated speech (ElevenLabs), the same two the app’s word cards use, each tone said as one real word. The words are from the official HSK list (the exam’s 2025 syllabus), easiest first. Every syllable is on the pinyin chart.