Chinese symbol for “oblast”
州
zhōu
prefecture; (old) province; (old) administrative division; state (e.g. of US)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for oblast is 州 (zhōu), defined as: prefecture; (old) province; (old) administrative division; state (e.g. of US); oblast (Russia); canton (Switzerland).
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Related words
Other words that share a character with 州.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 州长 (州長) | zhōu zhǎng | governor (of a province or colony); (US) state governor |
| 自治州 | zì zhì zhōu | autonomous prefecture |
| 州立 | zhōu lì | state-run |
| 州界 | zhōu jiè | state border; state line |
| 副州长 (副州長) | fù zhōu zhǎng | deputy governor (of a province or colony); lieutenant governor of US state |
| 州伯 | zhōu bó | governor (of a province); provincial chief (old) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “oblast”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.