褲 (kù) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

褲

kù[ku4]Tone 4

pants

HSK 3

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裤

Guru Deep Dive

English · pants

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:12

Writing Balance Rule: The left garment radical (衤) must be compact and slender, leaving sufficient open space for the right component (库) so the character does not lean.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 褲 uses 褳/庫 structure where the left side is the garment radical (衤). The simplified form retains 衤 and pairs it with 库.

1. Meaning

pants, trousers, underpants

leggingshose

NounNeutral#clothing#fashion#daily necessities

Sample Usage

我今天想穿这条裤子。
wǒ jīntiān xiǎng chuān zhè tiáo kùzi.
I want to wear this pair of pants today.
这条裤子有点儿长。
zhè tiáo kùzi yǒudiǎnr cháng.
These pants are a bit long.

2. Sound

/[kʰu⁵¹]/Tone: 51

褲

kùku4

`(51)

=kù

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Velar

Sounds like: English k sound as in 'key'

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Strong gust of air from throat! Tissue held in front MUST fly forward.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Back of the tongue raised against the soft palate, releasing an audible burst of breath.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -u vowel group

Sounds like: oo rhymes with 'boot' or 'coo'

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

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 down, just like saying 'No!' in English when you refuse something strongly.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the strong initial 'k' with 'g', or dropping tone 4 into tone 1.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, definitive chop downward with your hand, mirroring an exclamation of annoyance.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 12 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left garment radical (衤) must be compact and slender, leaving sufficient open space for the right component (库) so the character does not lean.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 褲 uses 褳/庫 structure where the left side is the garment radical (衤). The simplified form retains 衤 and pairs it with 库.

4. Components

Radical 衤 · Garment radical (Clothing, fabric, garments)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 衤 (Indicates that the word relates to clothing or textiles.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 库 (original sound: kù)

A piece of clothing (衤) that acts as a warehouse (库) for your legs.

衤 Garment semantic radical on the left
库 Phonetic and structural component on the right

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

2· Phonetic Root: 庫 ()

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally, ancient Chinese wore robes and skirts. Pants (裤) emerged later as trousers worn by nomadic horse riders for mobility, combining the garment radical (衤) with the sound-giving component 库.

Semantic Evolution: From early specialized riding gear to general lower-body garments worn universally today.

Ancient Chinese trousers were often crotchless (called 'xìkù'), designed for layering under robes before full trousers became standard.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

khố

The Mandarin falling tone (Tone 4) maps closely to the Vietnamese heavy tone (thanh sắc).

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: コ (ko) / Kun: はかま (hakama)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

고

Sound Shift Bridge: Shared East Asian cultural vocabulary root related to garments.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You wrap a piece of fabric clothing (衤) around your legs like a storage warehouse (库) to keep them warm. Those are your pants!

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

库

kùwarehouse, storehouseWithout the garment radical (衤), it refers to a building or warehouse.

裤

kùpants, trousersIncludes the garment radical (衤) on the left because pants are worn on the body.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

库(kù)

库 lacks the garment radical (衤) and means warehouse; 裤 has 衤 for clothing.

酷(kù)

酷 uses the bug/liquid radical on the left and means 'cool' (slang), whereas 裤 uses 衤 for pants.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我今天買了一條新[___]。

Clue: kù zi

Common Learner Pitfall

Forgetting the garment radical (衤) on the left and writing only the right-hand phonetic component 库.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 裤 mean, and what is its Pinyin with tone?

Production: How do you write the character for 'pants' (kù) using its garment radical?

褲kùpants

Speed:

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