秋 qiú autumn
Made up of [禾 hé grain radical 115, 火 huǒ fire radical 86]Made with 9 strokes.
Combines the character for 'grain' and 'fire' suggesting the ripening of grain in the heat of summer. Originally it was a picture of a tortoise.
Ancient small seal form 
Related characters
Also uses 禾 hé component: 矮 ǎi (low) 乘 chéng (to ride) ; 稿 gǎo (manuscript) ; 和 hé (together) ; 季 jì (season) ; 利 lì (sharp) ; 税 shuì (taxes) ; 香 xiāng (fragrant) ; 租 zū (to hire)
Also uses 火 huǒ component: 灯 dēng (lamp) 烤 kǎo (to roast) ; 灭 miè (to extinguish) ; 炮 pào (cannon) ; 灾 zāi (disaster) ; 炸 zhà (to explode)
Sounds same
球 qiú (ball) ; 打 qiú (to beat) ; 求 qiú (to seek)Pronunciation
Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License
Stroke order for character 秋, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license ➚
People
秋瑾 Qiu JinProverbs
老气横秋 lǎo qì héng qiū No longer youthful一日三秋 yī rì sān qiū To miss somebody very much
月到中秋分外明, 每逢佳节倍思亲 yuè dào zhōng qiū fèn wài míng, měi féng jiā jié bèi sī qīn Longing to see family from far away
明察秋毫 míng chá qiū háo A perceptive and sharp-sighted person who is able to grasp all the detail. In autumn some animals grow new, fine fur to keep themselves warm in winter.