州 zhōu prefecture; state
Made up of [川 chuān river radical 47, 丶 zhǔ dot radical 3]Similar looking characters : 川 chuān (river)
Made with 6 strokes.
Pictograph of a river with islands on it as ancient towns were all built near rivers, and can represent an island of administrative area 'prefecture' and so a very common component of place names
Ancient small seal form 
Related characters
Also uses 川 chuān component: 顺 shùn (to obey)
Also uses 丶 zhǔ component: 白 bái (bright) 半 bàn (half) ; 冰 bīng (ice) ; 弟 dì (younger brother) ; 兑 duì (to cash) ; 丽 lì (beautiful) ; 良 liáng (good) ; 令 lìng (to order) ; 铺 pù (store) ; 勺 sháo (spoon) ; 术 shù (method) ; 苏 sū (revive) ; 太 tài (too) ; 往 wǎng (towards) ; 为 wèi (do) ; 乌 wū (crow) ; 义 yì (justice) ; 尤 yóu (outstanding) ; 玉 yù (jade) ; 住 zhù (to live) ; 主 zhǔ (owner) ; 自 zì (from)
Sounds same
洲 zhōu (region) ; 周 zhōu (circuit) ; 舟 zhōu (boat)Pronunciation
Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License
Cities
泉州 Quanzhou, Fujian福州 Fuzhou, Fujian
兰州 Lanzhou, Gansu
惠州 Huizhou, Guangdong
广州 Guangzhou, Guangdong
柳州 Liuzhou, Guangxi
沧州 Cangzhou, Hebei
郑州 Zhengzhou, Henan
随州 Suizhou, Hubei
荆州 Jingzhou, Hubei
扬州 Yangzhou, Jiangsu
常州 Changzhou, Jiangsu
苏州 Suzhou, Jiangsu
徐州 Xuzhou, Jiangsu
锦州 Jinzhou, Liaoning
德州 Dezhou, Shandong
滕州 Tengzhou, Shandong
泸州 Luzhou, Sichuan
邳州 Pizhou, Jiangsu
湖州 Huzhou, Zhejiang
温州 Wenzhou, Zhejiang
杭州 Hangzhou, Zhejiang
漳州 Zhangzhou, Fujian
台州 Taizhou, Zhejiang
赣州 Ganzhou, Jiangxi
宿州 Suzhou Anhui, Anhui
潮州 Chaozhou, Guangdong
梅州 Meizhou, Guangdong
郴州 Chenzhou, Hunan
衢州 Quzhou, Zhejiang
达州 Dazhou, Sichuan
滨州 Binzhou, Shandong