armpit
side of the body
NounNeutralBound morpheme#anatomy#body parts
Sample Usage
胳肢窝
gēzhiwō
armpit
胳膊
gēbo
arm
胳
gēge1
|++¯(55)
=gē Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "e" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).
Type: Unaspirated Velar
Sounds like: g sound as in 'go'
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 touches the soft palate
Vowel Group: -e vowel group
Sounds like: uh sound as in 'duh'
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'uh'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 stays flat and high like a steady musical note sung at the top of your voice.
👂Listening trap: Do not confuse with gě (Tone 3) or gé (Tone 2); ensure it stays level and high.
👋Physical Tone Gesture: Hold your hand flat at a high, steady level near your forehead to represent Tone 1.
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (月) should be slightly narrower, leaving ample room for the right phonetic component (各).
Radical 月 · Meat/Moon Radical (肉) (flesh or body parts)
Semantic Clue (形旁): 月 (indicates flesh and body parts)
Phonetic Clue (声旁): 各 (original sound: gè)
The meat radical (月) on the left represents body parts, while '各' on the right provides the phonetic sound clue (gè modified to gē).
- 月 Flesh / body part
- 各 Phonetic sound clue
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)
Origin: Combined from the flesh/body radical (月) representing anatomy and 各 for pronunciation.
Semantic Evolution: Originally referred to parts close to the body, evolving specifically into terms relating to the arm and armpit.
- Appears predominantly in compound words like 胳膊 (arm) and 胳肢 (tickle).
Vivid Mnemonic Story
You raise your MEAT body part (月) high in the air for EACH (各) armpit stretch you perform.
各gèeach, everyPhonetic Core (声旁)
路lùroad, path, journey+ 足 (foot)
格gēstandard, pattern, style, grid+ 木 (tree)
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
各(gè)
各 lacks the flesh radical (月) on the left and means 'each'.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge 他走路时总是甩着[___]。
Clue: gē
Common Learner PitfallMistaking it for the standalone word 各 (gè) and forgetting to include the meat radical 月.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: What body part does the left radical 月 point to in 胳?
Production: How do you write the character for 'armpit/arm component' (gē) using the meat radical and 'each'?
Speed: Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...