躬 (gōng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

躬

gōng[gong1]Tone 1

body, to bow, personally

HSK 7

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · body, to bow, personally

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Left-right

Strokes:7

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (身) takes up more width and structural weight, while the right side (弓) is slimmer and curves gracefully to fit the available space.

1. Meaning

to bow

human body or torsooneself or personally

verb / nounLiteraryBound morpheme#body#actions#politeness

Sample Usage

三鞠躬
sān jū gōng
three bows (as a sign of respect)
事必躬亲
shì bì gōng qīn
to attend to every matter personally

2. Sound

/[kʊŋ⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

躬

gōnggong1

¯(55)

=gōng

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

gong

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "o" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Velar

Sounds like: hard 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 touches the soft palate

Final Rhyme

ong

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: -ong rhymes with rung

Mouth Shape Guide: Combine initial 'h-' (h) with final '-ong' (oong).

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

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 stays flat and high at the top of your vocal range, like a sustained musical note.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing gōng with gǒng or gòng due to tone misplacement.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A flat, high horizontal hand gesture matching the high level pitch of Tone 1.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 7 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (身) takes up more width and structural weight, while the right side (弓) is slimmer and curves gracefully to fit the available space.

4. Components

Radical 身 · body radical (body or torso)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 身 (indicates the physical body or torso)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 弓 (original sound: gong)

The character combines 身 (body) on the left with 弓 (bow/arch) on the right, graphically depicting a human body bending or arching like a bow.

身 body
弓 bow or arch

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

2· Phonetic Root: 躬 (gōng)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally depicted a person bending over, combining the body element with a bow shape to represent physical bending or bowing.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from the physical act of bending the torso to mean bowing in respect, the body itself, and doing things personally with one's own body.

Often used in classical Chinese literature and formal idioms.
Retains its ancient meaning of physical posture in modern compound words like鞠躬.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

cung

Mandarin high level tone corresponds to Vietnamese ngang tone

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: キュウ (kyū) / Kun: usisameru

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

궁

Sound Shift Bridge: The -ong final and initial g- show regular phonetic alignment with similar velar nasal endings in literary borrowings.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Picture a person whose BODY (身) bends and ARCS like a BOW (弓) when they GONG (gōng) a deep, respectful bow.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

窮

+ 穴 (cave)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

公(gōng)

公 means public and lacks the body (身) and bow (弓) components entirely.

功(gōng)

功 has the work/strength radical (力) on the right instead of a bow (弓).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

全体起立，向老师三[___]。𒀭

Clue: gōng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the left component 身 with similar radicals like 月 or 目, or misplacing the order of strokes in the right-hand bow element.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 躬 mean when seen in literary or formal compounds like 鞠躬?

Production: How do you write the character for bowing or torso (gōng) using the body and bow components?

躬gōngbody, to bow, personally

Speed:

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