宮 (gōng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

宮

gōng[gong1]Tone 1

palace

HSK 6

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宫

Guru Deep Dive

English · palace

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: The upper roof crown (宀) must spread evenly over the two lower rooms (吕), keeping the center of gravity stable.

Simplification Logic: Simplified form shares the same traditional glyph structure (宮 and 宫 are nearly identical in component proportions).

1. Meaning

palace

templesurname Gongcastration as corporal punishmentfirst note in the pentatonic scale

NounNeutral#architecture#royalty#music#surnames

Sample Usage

故宫
gù gōng
The Forbidden City
宫殿
gōng diàn
palace

2. Sound

/[kʊŋ⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

宮

gōnggong1

¯(55)

=gōng

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Velar

Sounds like: g 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 tongue raised against the soft palate

Final Rhyme

ong

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: -ong rhymes with rung

Mouth Shape Guide: Combine initial 'h-' (h) with final '-ong' (oong).

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 sung on a high, even pitch, comparable to staying on a single high note when humming.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse with the retroflex initial gōng with zhōng or lōng; ensure a clean velar stop 'g' sound.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 1 is a steady, high horizontal line. Imagine holding a high musical note without wavering.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 9 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The upper roof crown (宀) must spread evenly over the two lower rooms (吕), keeping the center of gravity stable.

Simplification Logic: Simplified form shares the same traditional glyph structure (宮 and 宫 are nearly identical in component proportions).

4. Components

Radical 宀 · roof radical (roof, building)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 宀 (denotes a large building or structure)

A large roof (宀) covering two interconnected rooms or chambers (吕), representing a grand palace with multiple interconnected halls.

宀 roof or building
吕 connected chambers or rooms

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

3· Phonetic Root: 呂 ()

5. History

Liushu category: Compound ideogram (会意)

Origin: Originally depicted a large house with multiple internal rooms or partitions under a roof, symbolizing a palace or grand ancestral temple.

Semantic Evolution: Expanded from general large buildings and ancestral temples to royal palaces, and later extended to musical notes and medical anatomy.

In ancient China, 宫 referred to both royal residences and major temples.
It also designated a severe ancient corporal punishment involving castration.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

cung

Mandarin high level tone corresponds to Vietnamese ngang tone.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: キュウ (kyuu), グウ (guu) / Kun: みや (miya)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

궁

Sound Shift Bridge: The -ong ending maps across East Asian borrowings (e.g., Koreangung, Vietnamesecung).

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Under the big royal roof (宀), there are two connected rooms (吕) where the emperor lives in his grand palace (宫).

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

官(guān)

官 has a bottom component of 官 (official/guan), whereas 宫 has two stacked boxes (吕) representing rooms under a roof.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

皇帝住在故[___]裡。

Clue: gōng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the inner chambers component (吕) with similar box shapes like 口 or 品.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 宫 mean when seen in 故宫?

Production: How do you write the character for 'palace' (gōng)?

宮gōngpalace

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