邱

Phono-semantic compound:

丘 (언덕 구, “mound, hill”) — phonetic and semantic, giving sound and basic meaning.

邑 (고을 읍, “city, settlement”) — semantic, marking relation to places or settlements.

Originally created as a substitute graph for 丘, since 丘 was part of Confucius’s name (孔丘). To avoid direct use of the sage’s name (피휘, taboo character avoidance), 邱 was introduced.

Common as a surname (Qiu in Mandarin, 구 in Korean, きゅう Kyū in Japanese).

In Korea, mainly encountered in Daegu (大邱); elsewhere it is rare.

Sometimes interchangeable with 丘 in older texts, but now distinct.

In China, 邱 was officially merged into 丘 under the early Simplified Character scheme.

Since the 1988 in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters (现代汉语通用字表), 邱 has been reinstated as an independent character, not simplified.

Similar to how 釜 (in Busan, 釜山) survives primarily in place names.