You Collection, Lower Volume
Radical: Carriage (chē)
Character: Zhou
Kangxi strokes: 13
Page 1243, Entry 11
According to the Expanded Dictionary of Sounds and Meanings (Guangyun), the Collected Dictionary of Sounds (Jiyun), and the Dictionary of Rhymes (Yunhui), the pronunciation is zhou. According to the Corrected Rhymes (Zhengyun), the pronunciation is also zhou.
As defined in the Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters (Shuowen), it refers to the shaft of a carriage.
In the Book of Odes (Shijing), Qin Wind section: With five leather straps on the arched shaft.
The commentary notes: A curved shaft rises from the crossbar at the front, and when it reaches the yoke, it curves downward. The yoke rests horizontally beneath the shaft, and since the shaft arches upward like the beam of a house, it is called an arched shaft.
In the Zuo Commentary (Zuozhuan), Eleventh Year of Duke Yin: Ying Kaoshu tucked the shaft under his arm and ran.
The sub-commentary notes: The Dialects (Fangyan) states that between the states of Chu and Wei, the shaft is called zhou.
Also, zhouzhang describes an arrogant or overbearing appearance. In the Biography of Empress Dong from the History of the Later Han (Hou Han Shu): Are you now being overbearing and relying on your brother?