适 (kuò) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

适

kuò[kuo4]Tone 4

broad, vast, see Li Kuo

HSK 2

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · broad, vast, see Li Kuo

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Left-right

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (辶) wraps snugly underneath and around the right component (舌), keeping the overall width balanced and avoiding a disjointed look.

1. Meaning

broad, vast

used in proper names such as Li Kuo

AdjectiveLiteraryBound morpheme#size#names

Sample Usage

李适
Lǐ Kuò
Li Kuo (historical name)
恢适
huī kuò
vast and spacious

2. Sound

/[kʰuo⁵¹]/Tone: 51

适

kuòkuo4

`(51)

=kuò

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Velar

Sounds like: k sound as in kite

Aspirated

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Back of the tongue touches the soft palate, releasing a strong puff of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: rhymes with war or core

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

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 drops sharply from high to low, exactly like shouting a sudden command in English ('Stop!').

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 4 syllable, the first syllable shifts to a slightly lower falling tone pitch.

👂

Listening trap: Often confused with kuò written as 阔; note that 适 is primarily known as kuò only in specific historical names, whereas 阔 is the standard modern character for broad.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A decisive, sharp karate chop downward from high to low, representing Tone 4.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 9 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (辶) wraps snugly underneath and around the right component (舌), keeping the overall width balanced and avoiding a disjointed look.

4. Components

Radical 辶 · Movement Radical (motion, walking, road)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 辶 (indicates movement or path)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 舌 (original sound: shé / kuò)

The movement radical (辶) combined with the tongue component (舌) creates a character depicting a journey of speech or broad expression.

辶 movement/walking
舌 tongue

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

11· Phonetic Root: 舌 (jī)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally formed by combining a phonetic element indicating sound and a radical indicating movement, later specialized in use for proper names.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from general motion and breadth meanings in classical texts to primarily appearing in historical proper names.

Frequently encountered in historical texts when reading about Tang dynasty figures.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine walking (辶) while wagging your tongue (舌) to tell grand, broad (kuò) stories about your travels.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

话

huàspeech, wordsUses speech radical (讠) instead of movement.

刮

guāto scrapeUses knife radical (刂) on the side.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

阔(kuò)

阔 uses the gate/enclosure wrapper (门), whereas 适 uses the walking radical (辶).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

历史上著名的唐代人物有李[___]。

Clue: kuò

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing this character with the much more common 适 (shì, meaning suitable), which shares the exact same written glyph in simplified Chinese due to historical merging or variant usage.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 适 pronounced as kuò in a historical name, what does it signify?

Production: How do you write the character pronounced kuò used in the historical name Li Kuo?

适kuòbroad, vast, see Li Kuo

Speed:

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