槓 (gàng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

槓

gàng[gang4]Tone 4

thick pole, bar, rod, or to sharpen

HSK 7

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杠

Guru Deep Dive

English · thick pole, bar, rod, or to sharpen

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (木) should be compact and narrower, allowing the right phonetic component (工) to spread out and balance the overall width without crowding.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 槓 uses 木 (wood) and 貢 (gòng), while the simplified form 杠 replaces 貢 with 工 (gōng) to reduce complexity while retaining the phonetic cue.

1. Meaning

thick pole, bar, or rod

coffin-bearing polethick lineto mark with a thick lineto sharpen a knife or razorto get into a dispute withstandard or criterionhyphen or dash

Noun / VerbNeutral#tools#objects#actions#grammar

Sample Usage

单杠
dāngàng
horizontal bar (gymnastics)
杠铃
gànglíng
barbell

2. Sound

/[kaŋ⁵¹]/Tone: 51

槓

gànggang4

`(51)

=gàng

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

gang

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "a" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Velar

Sounds like: hard '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 raised against the soft palate

Final Rhyme

ang

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: rhymes with 'bang' or 'gang'

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

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

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and plunges sharply to the bottom, like a definitive command or an exclamation of 'No!'.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the 4th tone (falling 51) with the 1st or 2nd tone, or confusing the velar ending '-ng' with alveolar '-n'.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, forceful downward nod of the head, mimicking a heavy object dropping or a firm stroke down a page.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 9 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (木) should be compact and narrower, allowing the right phonetic component (工) to spread out and balance the overall width without crowding.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 槓 uses 木 (wood) and 貢 (gòng), while the simplified form 杠 replaces 貢 with 工 (gōng) to reduce complexity while retaining the phonetic cue.

4. Components

Radical 木 · Wood Radical (tree, wood, wooden objects)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 木 (Indicates that the pole or bar is traditionally made of wood.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 工 (original sound: gōng)

A wooden (木) structure built by craftsmanship or a worker (工) yields a sturdy wooden pole or bar (杠).

木 wood semantic
工 gōng phonetic indicator

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

4· Phonetic Root: 貢

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from 木 (wood) representing a wooden material and 工 (work/labor) providing the phonetic sound and suggesting a constructed wooden tool or bar.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referring to heavy wooden poles used for carrying coffins or loads, the meaning broadened to any thick bar, rod, geometric line, or sharpening tool.

Historically associated with heavy lifting poles used in traditional funeral processions.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Picture a worker (工) carrying a heavy wooden (木) gymnastic bar (杠) on his shoulder while sharpening his razor on it.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

貢

Phonetic Core (声旁)

嗊

+ 口 (mouth)

贛

+ 夂 (go slowly)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

扛(káng)

Uses the hand radical (扌) instead of wood (木), meaning 'to carry on the shoulder' as an action rather than the pole itself.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

他在體育課上練習單[___]動作。

Clue: gàng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 杠 (gàng, bar/pole) with 扛 (káng, to carry on shoulders) due to their near-identical phonetic components.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 杠 mean when combined with 单 (single) in sports contexts?

Production: How do you write the character for a thick wooden bar or gymnastic pole (gàng)?

槓gàngthick pole, bar, rod, or to sharpen

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