哭 (kū) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

哭

kū[ku1]Tone 1

to cry; to weep

HSK 2

Guru Deep Dive

English · to cry; to weep

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The top two eye-like components must be balanced and compact, sitting evenly above the mouth-like base element without crushing it.

1. Meaning

to cry; to weep

to mournto lament

VerbNeutral#emotion#body action#sound

Sample Usage

别哭了。
bié kū le.
Stop crying.
他忍不住哭了起来。
tā rěn bu zhù kū le qǐ lái.
He couldn't help bursting into tears.

2. Sound

/[kʰu˥˥]/Tone: 55

哭

kūku1

¯(55)

=kū

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Velar

Sounds like: k sound as in 'key'

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Strong gust of air from throat! Tissue held in front MUST fly forward.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Back of the tongue touches the soft palate, then releases a strong puff of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -u vowel group

Sounds like: -oo sound as in 'boot'

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

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 stays at a high, flat pitch, similar to a sustained musical note or humming a high pitch at the top of your voice.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse Tone 1 (high flat kū) with Tone 4 (sharp falling kù), which sounds abrupt like a command.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Imagine a high, flat musical note held steady at the top of your vocal range, like a sustained high pitch on a keyboard.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top two eye-like components must be balanced and compact, sitting evenly above the mouth-like base element without crushing it.

4. Components

Radical 口 · Mouth Radical (mouth)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 口 (Represents the mouth opening wide to make sound while crying)

At the top, two overlapping eye symbols (or canine ears in some etymologies) squint tightly. At the bottom, a wide-open mouth (口) lets out tears and sorrow.

猅 Upper elements representing frowning or squinting eyes
口 Lower element representing the crying mouth

5. History

Liushu category: Compound ideogram (会意)

Origin: Oracle bone scripts show a person standing with streams of tears flowing down from large eyes above a mouth, depicting the act of weeping.

Semantic Evolution: Originally depicted a person lamenting with tears. Over time, the pictographic drawing streamlined into the modern character combining eye-like shapes on top and the mouth component (口) at the bottom.

The top elements graphically evolved from eyes shedding tears, while the bottom 'mouth' indicates the wailing sound.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

khốc

High level tone in Mandarin matches the sắc or ngang register concept in Vietnamese adaptations.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: コク (koku) / Kun: نaku (naku)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

곡

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine a person with two teary eyes (top) wide open, wailing out loud with their big mouth (口) below, going 'Koo! Koo!' because they are crying so hard.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

器(qì)

器 contains four small mouth elements surrounding a central container, meaning 'utensil', whereas 哭 has two eye shapes on top and one mouth at the bottom.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

听到这个悲伤的消息，她忍不住[___]了起来。

Clue: kū

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the top part of 哭 with other character components like 四 or 山, leading to incorrect stroke order or missing eyes.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 哭, what is the English meaning and Pinyin?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to cry / to weep' with Pinyin kū?

哭kūto cry; to weep

Speed:

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