Definitions

chóu comrades; friends; companions

Etymology

Someone  with you all your life 寿寿 also provides the pronunciation

About

is a phono-semantic compound. It combines the person radical with 寿 (long life), evoking someone who is with you all your life; 寿 also provides the pronunciation. The traditional form retains the full character as the phonetic, while the simplified form replaces it with 寿. The character signifies a companion, mate, or peer, and in literary and poetic contexts it denotes spouses, close friends, or like-minded people of equal standing, conveying companionship and shared affinity.

Etymology Hide

Seal etymology image
Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)
Traditional Modern
Simplified Modern