秋天(qiū tiān) - autumn in Mandarin

秋天 (qiū tiān) means autumn, following the same "season plus 天" pattern as 春天 (chūn tiān, "spring") and 冬天 (dōng tiān, "winter"). 秋 (qiū) alone means "autumn, harvest time", and its character contains 禾 (hé, "grain"), a visual nod to the harvest season.

秋天 (qiū tiān) is strongly associated with harvest and cooling weather, and, depending on the region, with the changing colour of leaves. 秋 (qiū) also appears in set expressions worth knowing, like 中秋节 (zhōng qiū jié, "Mid-Autumn Festival"), the festival of mooncakes and family reunion held under the full fifteenth-day moon of the eighth lunar month.

Watch the tone: 秋 (qiū) is first tone, easy to flatten by ear into 求 (qiú, second tone, "to seek") if it is not held level.