<blockquote>
  <p><a href="https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/qiou-new-chinese-character-means-dirt-poor-and-ugly-and-people-are-relating-hard-1958619" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/qiou-new-chinese-character-means-dirt-poor-and-ugly-and-people-are-relating-hard-1958619</a></p>
  
  <p><em>A new Chinese character, invented by netizens, has become massively popular on social media this week - especially among self-mocking millennials. According to Shanghaiist, the character 'qiou' is a combination of three characters - 'qiong', meaning poor, 'chou', meaning ugly, and 'tu', meaning earth. Taken together, the character essentially means "poor as dirt and ugly."</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>You can see this so call character as '穷' overlap 土 (imply 'dirt poor' ) </p>

<ul>
<li><p>The lower part of '穷' is '力' </p></li>
<li><p>'力' overlap 土 is 丑, therefore the whole thing not only imply 'dirt poor', it also imply 'dirt poor and ugly'</p></li>
</ul>

<p>The reading is the mix of 穷  and  丑</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>穷 /<strong>qi</strong>ong2/ </p>
  
  <p>丑 /ch<strong>ou</strong>3/ </p>
</blockquote>

<p>reading of 我 is a joke: 写作'穷丑' 读作 '我' (written as '穷丑' read as '我') = "I am the definition of poor and ugly"</p>

<p>Since 穷 is a simplified character, the origin of this made-up character should be Mainland China.</p>

<p>You can't find it in dictionary because it is not a real character.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-06T09:40:06.723Z
2018-12-06T19:25:03.690Z
2018-12-06T19:25:03.690Z
Tang Ho
<p>The character is made up for a dialectical word <strong>qiǔ</strong>.</p>

<p>Constructed as「⿱穷土」, the definition is <em>dirt-poor</em> (「穷」到吃「土」), and the prescribed reading <strong>qiou</strong> is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanqie" rel="noreferrer"><em>Fanqie</em></a>-like combination of 「穷」(<strong>qi</strong>ong, <em>poor</em>) and「丑」(ch<strong>ou</strong>, <em>awkward, messed-up, ugly</em>), because the bottom of the character resembles「丑」.</p>

<p>The reading「我」(<em>I, me</em>) is a further joke:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>「我」就是「穷到吃土」or「我」就是「又穷又丑」.</p>
  
  <p>(<em>Self-deprecatingly</em>) What is <em>dirt poor</em> or <em>both poor and ugly</em>? ME!</p>
</blockquote>

<hr>

<p>The word <strong>qiǔ</strong> may be written using a real character「糗」(<em>congealed</em>, used to describe cooked grain food like rice porridge or wheat noodles that's been left out for too long). It is said that the modern uses of <strong>qiǔ</strong> is derived from the original meaning via semantic extension:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>「糗」(<em>rice or noodles that's been left out too long</em>) > 「呆」(<em>idle</em>, <em>dazed</em>)</p></li>
<li><p>「糗」(<em>congealed food that's no longer suitable to eat</em>) > 「醜」(<em>ugly, unpleasant</em>)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>See the <a href="https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%B3%97%E5%A4%A7%E4%BA%86" rel="noreferrer">baidu</a> reference. However, this may be folk etymology.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-06T09:25:47.077Z
2018-12-07T05:13:26.073Z
2018-12-07T05:13:26.073Z
dROOOze
<p>Apparently this character has been dubbed the character of the year (2018):</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/UdRDE.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/UdRDE.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>It's pronunciation is said to be:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>qiou</p>
</blockquote>

<p>but a lot of people claim it should just be pronounced the same as:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>我</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I can't find this character in the dictionary. What is it? Where did it come from?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-06T09:15:25.950Z
qiou is not even a legal pinyin syllable
炸鱼薯条德里克
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-06T11:38:24.750Z
ha I really hope that these newly coined characters could be easily typed. I like the feeling that character set is expanding(๑>؂<๑）
Toosky Hierot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-06T11:46:35.727Z
Maybe, the character is newly coined, but 'qiu' or 'qiou' already existed in the northeast dialect very long time ago. We never know how to write it out, or there isn't such a character at all originally. I guess someone found it's funny and they invented a character, based off its meaning,  for it then.
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-06T11:53:43.157Z
By the way, 'qiou' has several meanings, not just 穷 and 丑. For example, 别一天竟qiou在家里啊！ meaning 别天天都在家里呆着。
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-06T12:20:40.660Z
I've never seen this. So i am a rut now…
xbh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-06T15:55:21.777Z
@dan Interesting you mention that; the, proper, character would be: 糗 then.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-24T08:32:35.600Z
@user3306356 how did you know that that character has been dubbed as the character of the year?
Agnes
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-25T08:21:22.763Z
@Anges It showed up in my *weibo* feed, but I don't believe it is anything "official."
Mou某
<meaning><characters>
What is "qiou"?
# What is "qiou"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-12-06)

Apparently this character has been dubbed the character of the year (2018):

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/UdRDE.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/UdRDE.jpg)

It's pronunciation is said to be:

> qiou

but a lot of people claim it should just be pronounced the same as:

> 我

I can't find this character in the dictionary. What is it? Where did it come from?

**Tags:** meaning, characters
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: qiou is not even a legal pinyin syllable  
> **username_2**: ha I really hope that these newly coined characters could be easily typed. I like the feeling that character set is expanding(๑>؂<๑）  
> **username_3**: Maybe, the character is newly coined, but 'qiu' or 'qiou' already existed in the northeast dialect very long time ago. We never know how to write it out, or there isn't such a character at all originally. I guess someone found it's funny and they invented a character, based off its meaning,  for it then.  
> **username_3**: By the way, 'qiou' has several meanings, not just 穷 and 丑. For example, 别一天竟qiou在家里啊！ meaning 别天天都在家里呆着。  
> **username_4**: I've never seen this. So i am a rut now…  
> **username_0**: @dan Interesting you mention that; the, proper, character would be: 糗 then.  
> **username_5**: @user3306356 how did you know that that character has been dubbed as the character of the year?  
> **username_0**: @Anges It showed up in my *weibo* feed, but I don't believe it is anything "official."  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_7 on 2018-12-06. Score: 10 | Accepted answer

The character is made up for a dialectical word **qiǔ**.

Constructed as「⿱穷土」, the definition is *dirt-poor* (「穷」到吃「土」), and the prescribed reading **qiou** is a [*Fanqie*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanqie)-like combination of 「穷」(**qi**ong, *poor*) and「丑」(ch**ou**, *awkward, messed-up, ugly*), because the bottom of the character resembles「丑」.

The reading「我」(*I, me*) is a further joke:

> 「我」就是「穷到吃土」or「我」就是「又穷又丑」.
>
> (*Self-deprecatingly*) What is *dirt poor* or *both poor and ugly*? ME!

---

The word **qiǔ** may be written using a real character「糗」(*congealed*, used to describe cooked grain food like rice porridge or wheat noodles that's been left out for too long). It is said that the modern uses of **qiǔ** is derived from the original meaning via semantic extension:

* 「糗」(*rice or noodles that's been left out too long*) > 「呆」(*idle*, *dazed*)
* 「糗」(*congealed food that's no longer suitable to eat*) > 「醜」(*ugly, unpleasant*)

See the [baidu](https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%B3%97%E5%A4%A7%E4%BA%86) reference. However, this may be folk etymology.


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2018-12-06. Score: 4

> <https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/qiou-new-chinese-character-means-dirt-poor-and-ugly-and-people-are-relating-hard-1958619>
>
> *A new Chinese character, invented by netizens, has become massively popular on social media this week - especially among self-mocking millennials. According to Shanghaiist, the character 'qiou' is a combination of three characters - 'qiong', meaning poor, 'chou', meaning ugly, and 'tu', meaning earth. Taken together, the character essentially means "poor as dirt and ugly."*

You can see this so call character as '穷' overlap 土 (imply 'dirt poor' )

* The lower part of '穷' is '力'
* '力' overlap 土 is 丑, therefore the whole thing not only imply 'dirt poor', it also imply 'dirt poor and ugly'

The reading is the mix of 穷 and 丑

> 穷 /**qi**ong2/
>
> 丑 /ch**ou**3/

reading of 我 is a joke: 写作'穷丑' 读作 '我' (written as '穷丑' read as '我') = "I am the definition of poor and ugly"

Since 穷 is a simplified character, the origin of this made-up character should be Mainland China.

You can't find it in dictionary because it is not a real character.


---

