歌 (gē) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

歌

gē[ge1]Tone 1

song

HSK 1

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · song

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Left-right

Strokes:14

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left component (哥) slightly narrower and stacked vertically, while the right component (欠) anchors the right side with its sweeping trailing stroke.

1. Meaning

song

to singpoem set to music

Noun / Bound VerbNeutralBound morpheme#music#art#auditory

Sample Usage

我喜欢听歌。
wǒ xǐhuan tīng gē.
I like listening to songs.
这首歌真好听。
zhè shǒu gē zhēn hǎotīng.
This song sounds really nice.

2. Sound

/[kɤ⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

歌

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 raises to touch the soft palate, releasing without a strong burst of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: rhymes with the 'u' sound in 'hut' or 'duh'

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 (55), comparable to a musical note sustained flatly without rising or falling.

Sandhi: No special tone sandhi rules apply to this character individually.

👂

Listening trap: Beginners often mistake the neutral back vowel for an 'ee' sound or confuse the high level tone with a rising interrogative intonation.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Imagine holding a flat, high musical note like a high soprano singing a sustained pitch at the top of your vocal range.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 14 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left component (哥) slightly narrower and stacked vertically, while the right component (欠) anchors the right side with its sweeping trailing stroke.

4. Components

Radical 欠 · Lack / Yawn Radical (deficiency, exhaling, or breath from the mouth)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 欠 (indicates mouth action, breathing, or vocalizing)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 哥 (original sound: ge)

A singer (哥 older brother / sound clue) opens their mouth wide to exhale breath and project sound (欠 radical for breathing/yawning) to form a song.

哥 Provides the phonetic sound 'gē'
欠 Provides the semantic clue relating to breathing and the mouth

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

2· Phonetic Root: 哥 (gē)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from 哥 (ge, originally meaning singing or chanting) and 欠 (qian, representing an open mouth or exhaled breath), depicting a person singing aloud.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referred to oral chanting or vocal sounds, which gradually narrowed to mean a musical song in modern Chinese.

In ancient texts, 哥 and 歌 were often used interchangeably before the mouth radical 欠 was added to clearly designate vocal music.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

High level tone in Mandarin corresponds roughly to the level or flat quality of Vietnamese ngang tone.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: カ (ka) / Kun: うた (uta)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

가

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Your older brother (哥) opens his mouth wide with a big yawn/breath (欠) because he is standing on stage belting out a loud, high-pitched song (歌).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

哥

gēolder brotherBase phonetic component without the mouth/breath radical.

歌

gēsongAdds 欠 (breath/yawn) on the right to show breath used for singing.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

哥(gē)

哥 means older brother and lacks the right-side 欠 radical.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我很喜欢听这首___。

Clue: gē

Common Learner Pitfall

Forgetting the right-side radical 欠 and writing only the left component 哥 when trying to write 'song'.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 歌 mean and how is it pronounced?

Production: How do you write the character for 'song' (gē)?

歌gēsong

Speed:

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