顾 (gù) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

顾

gù[gu4]Tone 4

to look after; to take into consideration

HSK 2

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顧

Guru Deep Dive

English · to look after; to take into consideration

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left component (户) slightly narrower to leave ample breathing room for the complex right component (页), ensuring the character does not lean to the right.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 顧 uses 雝 on the right side, which was simplified to 页 in modern standard Chinese to reduce stroke complexity.

1. Meaning

to look after, attend to, or take into consideration

to turn round and look atsurname Gu

VerbNeutral#action#cognition#care

Sample Usage

他照顾生病的孩子。
tā zhàogù shēngbìng de háizi.
He takes care of the sick child.
请顾全大局。
qǐng gùquán dàjú.
Please take the overall situation into consideration.

2. Sound

/[ku˥˩]/Tone: 51

顾

gùgu4

`(51)

=gù

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Velar

Sounds like: g sound as in 'get'

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 raised against the soft palate.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -u vowel group

Sounds like: oo sound as in 'boot'

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 straight down, exactly like saying 'No!' or giving an abrupt command in English.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the sharp falling Tone 4 with Tone 1 or Tone 3 due to hasty pronunciation.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, decisive downward chop with your hand, mirroring a stern nod or falling pitch.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left component (户) slightly narrower to leave ample breathing room for the complex right component (页), ensuring the character does not lean to the right.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 顧 uses 雝 on the right side, which was simplified to 页 in modern standard Chinese to reduce stroke complexity.

4. Components

Radical 页 · Page / Head Radical (Head, page, or leaf)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 页 (Indicates head or looking around with the head)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 雇 (original sound: gù)

The character combines the door/house radical 户 on the left (implying a home or person inside) with 雇 (to hire/employ) on the right, which also supplies the sound 'gù'.

户 Door or household component
隹 Short-tailed bird
页 Head or leaf

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

7· Phonetic Root: 厄 (è)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally formed from a phonetic element indicating sound and a semantic element relating to turning the head or looking back.

Semantic Evolution: From the original action of turning the head to look back, it broadened to mean looking after, caring for, and considering.

The component 雇 originally depicted a bird trapped under a roof, later used for its sound.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

cố

Mandarin Tone 4 corresponds roughly to the Vietnamese falling (sắc) or heavy (nặng) tone category.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: コ / Kun: かえりみ.る

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

고

Sound Shift Bridge: The initial 'g' sound in Mandarin frequently corresponds to historical velar plosives across East Asian sinoxenic readings.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

At home (户), you hire (雇) someone to look after your household head (页) and take care of your family.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

雇

gùto hireShares the same phonetic base without the head radical.

锢

gùto lock up / blockadeReplaces the door/house with metal (钅) for metal-binding or locking.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

雇(gù)

雇 means 'to hire' (lacks the 页 head/page element at the right or bottom depending on structure).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

父母总是无微不至地[___]孩子。

Clue: gù

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the character structure with 雇 and forgetting the final 页 component when handwriting.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 顾 mean when you see it in 照顾 (zhàogù)?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to look after / consider' (gù) with 10 strokes?

顾gùto look after; to take into consideration

Speed:

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