Writing Balance Rule: Keep the top section compact and balanced over the bottom mouth (口) element, ensuring vertical alignment.
Simplification Logic: Simplified from 穀 by replacing the complex phonetic and semantic components on the right with a simpler phonetic placeholder while retaining the core visual structure.
1. Meaning
grain, corn, cereal
valley (variant or historical association)crops
NounFormal / Literary#agriculture#food#nature
Sample Usage
五谷丰登
wǔ gǔ fēng dēng
an abundant harvest of all kinds of grain
谷物
gǔ wù
cereal, grain
2. Sound
/[ku³⁵]/Tone: 35
谷
gǔgu3
|
++
ˇ(214)
=gǔ
Initial Consonant
g
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 make contact with the soft palate.
Final Rhyme
u
Vowel Group: -u vowel group
Sounds like: -oo rhymes with 'too'
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'oo'.
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 2 rises like a question in English: 'Really?'
Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, gǔ changes to a 2nd tone.
👂
Listening trap: Do not confuse the rising 35 tone with the dipping 214 tone (gǔ vs. gǔ? No, gǔ vs. gǔ is fine, but watch out for similar syllables like gù).
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Start at a mid-low pitch and sweep your hand upward sharply to the sky, mirroring the rising 35 pitch contour.
3. Writing
Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 7 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: Keep the top section compact and balanced over the bottom mouth (口) element, ensuring vertical alignment.
Simplification Logic: Simplified from 穀 by replacing the complex phonetic and semantic components on the right with a simpler phonetic placeholder while retaining the core visual structure.