州 or 洲

[Mark Yong]

I have often seen shop signs in Kuala Lumpur incorrectly writing 潮洲粥. Can anyone see the error? Yep... it should be 潮州, not 潮洲, i.e. no water radical.

Can anyone tell me the real difference between 州 (without the water radical) and 洲 (with the water radical)? For instance, I know by rule-of-thumb that all prefectures in China use 州, e.g. 廣州, 潮州, whereas continents use 洲, e.g. 亞洲, 歐洲. But what about places that do not fall under these two clear categories (i.e. neither prefecture nor continent), e.g. should Ch'eung Chau in Hong Kong be 長州 or 長洲?

What is the etymological origin of these two words?

[zhwj]

Cheung Chau is an island, hence 洲.

[skylee]

洲 refers to a continent or an island, land surround by water. 州 refers to an administrative region. Maryland is 馬利蘭州, Ohio is 俄亥俄州, etc.

zhwj is right. Cheung Chau is an island.

[studentyoung]

What is the etymological origin of these two words?

Yes. 州 is the original character of 洲.

Can anyone tell me the real difference between 州 (without the water radical) and 洲 (with the water radical)?

In contemporary Chinese, 洲 means “continent / continental” or “islet in a river”. For example: 亚洲 Asia, 洲际弹道导弹intercontinental ballistic missile .

州usually implies “some governmental administrative unit or area, like district, region, state, or city in a country”. For example: 广州Guangzhou, 潮州Chaozhou, 纽约州New York State.

For further details, please check the links below:

州：http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE5ZdicB7Zdic9E.htm

洲：http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE6ZdicB4ZdicB2.htm

Thanks!

[DarkerBlue]

Good explanations! and:)

I've got an exception here:

满洲 Manchuria; northeast China; a region of northeast China comprising the modern-day provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.

[zhwj]

There's a theory that 满洲 was chosen because the Ming Dynasty was associated with the fire element, and water consumes fire according to traditional Chinese elemental theory. 金 (associated with fire) was changed to 清 for the same reason.

[madizi]

In ancient China, provinces were divided in prefectures 州. Some cities even retained 州 in their names, for example 福州，广州, etc. There is even a province in China with 州 in its name: 贵州.

[DarkerBlue]

There's a theory that 满洲 was chosen because the Ming Dynasty was associated with the fire element, and water consumes fire according to traditional Chinese elemental theory. 金 (associated with fire) was changed to 清 for the same reason.

Quite possible! (Though I've only heard of 金——清 for the sake of "consuming".)