舉 (jǔ) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

舉

jǔ[ju3]Tone 3

to lift, to raise, to hold up

HSK 2

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举

Guru Deep Dive

English · to lift, to raise, to hold up

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: The top part should be compact and centered over the bottom component (与), maintaining a vertical axis of symmetry.

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 舉 by streamlining the lower hand component and condensing the upper brush elements.

1. Meaning

to lift or raise physically

to hold upto cite or enumerateto act or carry outto choose or elect

VerbNeutral#physical action#governance#cognition

Sample Usage

请举手。
Qǐng jǔ shǒu.
Please raise your hand.
举个例子。
Jǔ gè lìzi.
Give an example.

2. Sound

/[t͡ɕy²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

舉

jǔju3

ˇ(214)

=jǔ

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Alveolo-Palatal

Sounds like: j sound as in juice or jeep

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: No air puff. Lips spread wide like smiling.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Blade of the tongue touches the hard palate, unrounded air release.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -v vowel group

Sounds like: French 'u' or German 'ü' sound

Note: Written as 'u', pronounced as rounded 'ü' [y].

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

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

Abbreviated Rhyme Rule: Written as u after j, q, x, y due to umlaut omission rules, but pronounced as ü.

Tone

T3 (214)

2 → 1 → 4 (214)

3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips low in pitch before rising, matching the dip and lift movement of lifting a heavy weight.

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, jǔ changes to a 2nd tone (rising 35) according to standard Mandarin tone sandhi rules.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the rounded vowel ü with the unrounded u (oo). Remember that j takes ü, so the lips must remain puckered.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air with your hand: starting neutral, dipping down to your chest, and sweeping upward to the right.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 9 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top part should be compact and centered over the bottom component (与), maintaining a vertical axis of symmetry.

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 舉 by streamlining the lower hand component and condensing the upper brush elements.

4. Components

Radical 臼 · Mortar Radical (mortar, two hands)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 臼 (Represents hands lifting or working together.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 与 (original sound: ju)

The upper part represents a collection of elements being gathered, while the bottom radical 臼 historically depicted two hands lifting an object out of a mortar.

与 phonetic and top structural scaffolding
臼 mortar / hands lifting

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

3· Phonetic Root: 舉 ()

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Oracle bone inscriptions show two hands lifting a heavy object (like a mortar or container) upward, emphasizing the concept of raising and elevation.

Semantic Evolution: From physically lifting heavy objects in antiquity, the meaning broadened abstractly to lifting up people (electing/recommending), bringing up topics (citing), and taking actions.

Historically used in the imperial examination system (科举, kē jǔ) to 'recommend' scholars for official posts.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: キョ / Kun: あ.げる / あ.がる

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

거

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Picture two strong hands (臼) lifting an enormous gym weight up into the air, straining upward with a deep grunt (Tone 3) to CHOOSE and RAISE the trophy.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

榉

jǔzelkova treeAdds the tree radical (木) on the left for wood/tree species.

龃

jǔuneven teethReplaces the top with the tooth radical (齿) for dental misalignment.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

与(yǔ)

与 is just the top component of 举, meaning 'and' or 'with', lacking the lower mortar/hands part.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

如果有問題，請[___]手。

Clue: jǔ

Common Learner Pitfall

Forgetting that the pinyin is jǔ with an umlaut-derived ü and mispronouncing it with an English 'ju' sound.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 举 mean when seen in 举手 or 举例?

Production: How do you write the character meaning 'to lift or raise' with 9 strokes?

舉jǔto lift, to raise, to hold up

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