Han character 趜

趜 means hardship; it can also describe a body that cannot straighten.

Mandarin’s main dictionary reading is jú (pinyin): begin with a soft “ch,” say “ee” with rounded lips, and let the tone rise. The classical gloss 窮也 means “poverty” or “hardship.”

The Han-era Shuowen Jiezi, an early Chinese dictionary, glosses 趜 as 窮也 and analyzes it as 走, the walking component, plus 匊, the sound component. Later dictionaries give qū, roughly “chyoo” with a level tone, for “respectful,” treating 趜 as a form of 匑; they also list qiú, roughly “chyo” with a rising tone, for variant 𧺤, associated with feet that do not extend. Through 匊, 趜 shares a phonetic series with 菊 and 鞠; the link is about sound, not meaning.

Why do dictionaries give 趜 different readings?

Different entries attach different readings to different senses.

These are dictionary readings tied to separate senses and forms, not interchangeable spellings for one everyday word.

If 趜 displays as a box, the font lacks this text character. A font that includes 趜 can display it; changing fonts may change its strokes, not its identity.