Soochow

S1O1O1C3H4O1W4

A form of Suzhou — A prefecture-level city of Jiangsu, China, between Lake Tai and the Yangtze River.

RareScrabble 15

Meanings

proper noun
  1. alternativedatedAlternative form of Suzhou.

    He could always just leave on the next train to Nanking, or the little steamboat to Soochow.

    2015, Xiao Bai, translated by Chenxin Jiang, French Concession, Harper Collins Publishers, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 79
    5 more examples

    An official, one of the many provincial deputies charged with the carrying of tribute to the Court at Hsi-an, returning thence to his post at Soochow, sent to a friend at Peking a detailed description of the life of the Court in exile, from which the following extracts are taken.

    1910, J. O. P. Bland, E. Backhouse, China Under the Empress Dowager, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., page 359

    For our purpose new economic centers are defined as those vigorously developed in Communist China prior to the economic crisis in 1960-62, but not necessarily completely new industrial centers. They consist of 26 cities included in categories A-II and B-II in Table 4-8 and B2, B3, B4, B5, and B8 in Table 4-3 (excluding Soochow and Kuei-yang, which are predominantly nonindustrial).

    1967, Yuan-li Wu, The Spatial Economy of Communist China, Frederick A. Praeger Publishers, page 145

    By the middle of June there had been additional disturbances at Chinkiang, Tan-yang, Wu-hsi and Soochow along the Grand Canal, and at Wu-hsueh, Kiukiang and Sha-shih on the Yangtze.

    1976, Charlton M. Lewis, Prologue to the Chinese Revolution: The Transformation of Ideas and Institutions in Hunan Province, 1891-1907, →ISBN, page 16

    Several thousand people from rice producing areas throughout the country came to visit the high yielding units in Soochow Prefecture every day.[…] In Wuchiang County which has a rural population of 600,000, the 23 communes are divided into five groups.

    1977 October 4 [1977 October 1], “Socialist Emulation in Agriculture Progresses”, in Daily Report: People's Republic of China, volume I, number 192, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Peking NCNA, →ISSN, →OCLC, People's Republic of China: National Affairs, page E 11, E 12

    In Soochow of Kiangsu Province, people burned incense at daybreak. During the day, stores were closed and people ate and drank, as if they were celebrating the New Year.

    自由中國週報

    1982 December 26, Charlotte Summer, “Tung Chih festival a time for rejoicing”, in Free China Weekly [自由中國週報], volume XXIII, number 51, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2

Origin

  1. Mandarin蘇州 /苏州
  2. EnglishSoochow

From the Postal Romanization of Mandarin 蘇州 /苏州 (Sūzhōu).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Soochow. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Soochow

MLA

“Soochow.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Soochow. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Soochow,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Soochow.

Source: Soochow on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.