哥 (gē) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

哥

gē[ge1]Tone 1

elder brother

HSK 1

Guru Deep Dive

English · elder brother

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Left-right

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The character consists of two stacked 可 elements placed side-by-side. Ensure the left element is slightly narrower and the right element slightly lower to maintain perfect visual equilibrium.

1. Meaning

elder brother

friendly title for an older male peer or young man

NounNeutral#family#relationships#social titles

Sample Usage

我有一个哥哥。
Wǒ yǒu yī gè gēge.
I have an elder brother.
大哥，请进！
Dàgē, qǐng jìn!
Big brother, please come in!

2. Sound

/[kɤ⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

哥

gēge1

¯(55)

=gē

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Velar

Sounds like: g sound as in go

Unaspirated

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 makes contact with the soft palate (velum)

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: -e rhymes with 'uh' in hut

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'uh'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 is a high, steady pitch comparable to a musical monotone held flat at the ceiling of your voice.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse with the neutral tone suffix -ge in gēge (older brother), where the second syllable is short and light.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 1 stays flat and high at the top of your vocal range, like singing a sustained high note.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes

4. Components

Radical 可 · Can Radical (able, permissible)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 可 (original sound: kě)

A stacked pair of 'kě' (可) components. Visually, two people who 'can' (可) do things together—like two capable brothers teaming up.

可 left half, providing both the phonetic sound and the semantic baseline of capability
可 right half, doubling up to form the full character for elder brother

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

2· Phonetic Root: 哥 (gē)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally derived from the character 可 (meaning approved/able). Doubling 可 was historically used to represent song or singing, but over time the compound was borrowed to designate an elder brother.

Semantic Evolution: From an ancient doubled phonetic structure representing vocal sounds or singing to its fixed modern meaning of 'elder brother'.

In ancient times, calling someone 哥 often implied deep respect and camaraderie among male peers.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

Mandarin Tone 1 corresponds to ngang tone in Sino-Vietnamese.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: カ

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

가

Sound Shift Bridge: Cognate sound 'ca' in Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Two capable (可) brothers stand side by side like pillars. The older brother, being first, leads the way with a strong, high-pitched voice (Tone 1).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

歌

gēsongAdd the mouth radical (欠) on top or side to show singing out loud.

河

hériverAdd water radical (氵) on the left for water flowing.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

歌(gē)

歌 has the mouth/breath element (欠) on the right for singing, whereas 哥 is just two '可' components.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我有一个大[___]。

Clue: ge

Common Learner Pitfall

Forgetting that when used as a family term, the second syllable in 'gēge' drops to the neutral tone, whereas the standalone word 'gē' is always Tone 1.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 哥, what does it mean and how is it pronounced with tone?

Production: How do you write and pronounce the Mandarin word for 'elder brother'?

哥gēelder brother

Speed:

Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...

0 / 0