港 (gǎng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

港

gǎng[gang3]Tone 3

harbor

HSK 6

Guru Deep Dive

English · harbor

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:12

Writing Balance Rule: The left water radical (氵) should be compact and graceful, leaving ample space for the complex right-hand side component (巷).

1. Meaning

harbor, port

Hong Kong (abbreviation for 香港)surname Gang

NounNeutral#geography#water#transportation

Sample Usage

这座城市有一个天然的大港。
zhè zuò chéng shì yǒu yī gè tiān rán de dà gǎng.
This city has a great natural harbor.
我打算去香港旅游。
wǒ dǎ suàn qù xiāng gǎng lǚ yóu.
I plan to travel to Hong Kong.

2. Sound

/[kaŋ²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

港

gǎnggang3

ˇ(214)

=gǎng

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

ang

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -ang rhymes with 'bang'

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

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

Tone

T3 (214)

2 → 1 → 4 (214)

3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips low and rises, equivalent to the incredulous English question 'Really?'

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, gǎng changes to a 2nd tone (rising 35), e.g., 港口 gǎnghǒu becomes gángkǒu.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the low dipping Tone 3 with Tone 4, failing to drop the pitch low enough before rising.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Start at a mid pitch, dip down low to your chest, and sweep back up high like drawing a checkmark in the air.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 12 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left water radical (氵) should be compact and graceful, leaving ample space for the complex right-hand side component (巷).

4. Components

Radical 氵 · Water Radical (Water, liquid, rivers or oceans)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 氵 (Indicates that a harbor is a body of water.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 巷 (original sound: xiàng / gǎng)

Water (氵) meets an alley or lane (巷), representing a sheltered watery lane where ships dock—a harbor.

氵 Water
巷 Alley / phonetic clue

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

2· Phonetic Root: 巷 (xiàng)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the water signific (氵) to show a body of water and 巷 (lane/alley) providing the phonetic sound and suggesting a narrow waterway or channel where ships find shelter.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referred to a natural water channel or creek, later broadened to mean any port, dock, or harbor, and famously used to designate Hong Kong (Fragrant Harbor).

Hong Kong gets its name from 香港 (Fragrant Harbor), originally referring to a small inlet around Aberdeen where incense products were shipped.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

cảng

Mandarin 3rd tone corresponds closely to Vietnamese hỏi/ngã tone in loanwords.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: コウ / Kun: みなと

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

강

Sound Shift Bridge: Cognate with Sino-Xenic readings preserving the ancient -ng ending and initial velar stop.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

At the water's edge (氵), ships line up down a narrow alley (巷) of deep blue sea to enter the safe harbor (港).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

巷

xiàngalley, laneWithout the water radical, it refers to a dry street or alleyway.

閧

hònguproar, tumultUses a gate (门) instead of water, meaning a noisy crowd in a gateway.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

巷(xiàng)

巷 lacks the water radical on the left and means an alley rather than a harbor.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

这座城市有一个非常繁忙的货运[___]。

Clue: gǎng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the right-hand component 巷 with unrelated complex radicals, or forgetting the water radical 氵 when writing.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 港 mean when seen in the word 香港 (Xiānggǎng)?

Production: How do you write the character for 'harbor' or 'port' (gǎng)?

港gǎngharbor

Speed:

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