measure for dry grain (one-tenth of a sheng) / 100 ml
HSK 2
Multiple Readings (多音字):
Guru Deep Dive
English · measure for dry grain (one-tenth of a sheng) / 100 ml
Cached lesson
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Topology:Top-bottom
Strokes:6
Writing Balance Rule: The top roof structure (人) should crown the middle box (口) evenly, with the bottom line (一) anchoring the entire character horizontally.
1. Meaning
Traditional unit of capacity for dry grain (one-tenth of a sheng 升, equal to 100 ml)
small traditional measuring cupone-hundredth of a dou 斗
Airflow Tactile Test: No burst of air (sounds like 'c' in Vietnamese 'cá' or 'k' in English 'skate').
Tongue & Mouth Position: Back of the tongue raised against the soft palate
Final Rhyme
e
Vowel Group: -e vowel group
Sounds like: rhymes with the 'ir' in bird or 'uh' sound
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'uh'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T3 (214)
2 → 1 → 4 (214)
3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips low and rises, resembling the questioning tone in English 'Really?'
Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, changes to a 2nd tone (rising 35).
👂
Listening trap: Often confused with the much more common 2nd tone or neutral tone readings of hé (to close, join), though it is written with the exact same character in classical or metrological contexts.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: dip down sharply from mid-height to low chest level, then sweep up to the right.
3. Writing
Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 6 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The top roof structure (人) should crown the middle box (口) evenly, with the bottom line (一) anchoring the entire character horizontally.
Semantic Clue (形旁):口 (denotes a measuring container or mouth/opening for grain)
Phonetic Clue (声旁):亼 (original sound: jí / gě)
The character combines the top roof/gathering shape (亼) with a bottom container or mouth (口), depicting a vessel used to gather and measure a fixed amount of grain.
亼 gathering / assembling
口 mouth / container
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
22· Phonetic Root: 合 (gě)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Originally depicted a covered measuring vessel or scoop used in ancient times to apportion grain rations.
Semantic Evolution: Shifted from a physical measuring scoop to the exact volumetric unit (one-tenth of a sheng), and later used interchangeably with hé (to close/join) in modern simplified Chinese, though retaining its unique reading gě in specific metrological contexts.
In ancient Chinese metrology, 10 ge equaled 1 sheng.
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
hợp
The Sino-Vietnamese reading 'hợp' corresponds to the common meaning 'to close/match', while the metrological reading 'gě' is specific to Chinese grain measure.
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: GŌ / Kun: gō
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
합
Sound Shift Bridge: The traditional Japanese unit 'gō' (合) is a direct loan cognate representing this exact historical volume measurement (~180 ml in Japanese traditional units, ~100 ml in Chinese).
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Imagine a tiny measuring cup (口) used to **gather** (亼) exactly 100 ml of magical grains. When you lift it up with a dipping motion (Tone 3), you measure out a precise 'gě' of energy!
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
合
héto close, join, fitSame written character, but read as hé (2nd tone) when meaning 'to combine' or 'close'.
塔
tǎpagodaAdds the earth radical (土) on the left for a towering structure.
拾
shíto pick up / tenAdds the hand radical (扌) on the left.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
合(hé)
Written identically as 合, but pronounced hé (2nd tone) meaning 'to match/close' in 99% of modern contexts, whereas gě (3rd tone) is restricted to the ancient volumetric measure.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
古代的计量单位中，一升等于十[___]。
Clue: gě
Common Learner Pitfall
Assuming the character is always pronounced hé, and missing its rare specialized reading gě when used as a dry grain volumetric measure.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: When you see 合 used in an ancient text regarding grain capacity, what is its specialized reading and meaning?
Production: How do you write the character for the ancient dry grain measure equal to 100 ml, pronounced gě?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
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合gěmeasure for dry grain (one-tenth of a sheng) / 100 ml
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