Phonetic Families & Components

Sound Roots & Semantic Radicals Explorer

Decode Chinese characters by their shared sound roots and see how semantic radicals split their meanings across tones.

Popular Roots:

古

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)HSK 3

古 (gǔ)

ancient, old, paleo-

View Root Character Page

Family Characters

HSK Words

Tone Fan-out (古)

How this root's pronunciation drifts across the Mandarin tone spectrum:

5 Active Tones

Tone 1jū

Tone 2hú

Tone 3gǔ

Tone 4gù

Tone 5

Family Characters (26)

Root: 古

古

gǔ

HSK 3

Phonetic Root (声旁 / Sound Core)

ancient, old, paleo-

Open Deep Dive

故

gù

HSK 2

攵(strike)

reason, cause, former, therefore, old

Open Deep Dive

苦

kǔ

HSK 3

艹(plants)

bitter

Open Deep Dive

固

gù

HSK 4

囗(enclosure)

hard, strong, solid

Open Deep Dive

居

jū

HSK 4

户(door)

to reside

Open Deep Dive

估

gū

HSK 5

亻(person)

to estimate

Open Deep Dive

胡

hú

HSK 5

⺼(meat)

surname Hu, non-Han people, reckless, outrageous

Open Deep Dive

沽

gū

HSK 7

氵(water)

abbr. for Tianjin 天津 (also 津沽); to buy

Open Deep Dive

辜

gū

HSK 7

辛(bitter)

crime, sin, surname Gu

Open Deep Dive

咕

gū

Expansion

口(mouth)

(onom.) for the sound of a bird, an empty stomach etc

Open Deep Dive

嘏

gǔ

Expansion

叚(false)

good fortune; longevity

Open Deep Dive

岵

hù

Expansion

山(mountain)

(literary) mountain covered with vegetation

Open Deep Dive

怙

hù

Expansion

忄(heart)

to rely on; father (formal)

Open Deep Dive

牯

gǔ

Expansion

牛(cow)

bullock; cow

Open Deep Dive

祜

hù

Expansion

礻(spirit)

celestial blessing

Open Deep Dive

罟

gǔ

Expansion

罒(net)

to implicate; net for birds or fish

Open Deep Dive

蛄

gū

Expansion

虫(insect)

see 螻蛄|蝼蛄[lou2 gu1]

Open Deep Dive

诂

gǔ

Expansion

讠(speech)

to comment; to explain

Open Deep Dive

軲

Expansion

車(car)

—

Open Deep Dive

轱

gū

Expansion

车(car)

used in 軲轆|轱辘[gu1 lu5]

Open Deep Dive

酤

gū

Expansion

酉(wine vessel)

to deal in liquors

Open Deep Dive

鈷

Expansion

釒(metal)

—

Open Deep Dive

钴

gǔ

Expansion

钅(metal)

(chemistry) cobalt (Taiwan pr. [gu1]); used in 鈷鉧|钴𬭁[gu3 mu3]

Open Deep Dive

骷

kū

Expansion

骨(bone)

used in 骷髏|骷髅[ku1 lou2]

Open Deep Dive

鴣

Expansion

鳥(bird)

—

Open Deep Dive

鸪

gū

Expansion

鸟(bird)

partridge; Francolinus chinensis

Open Deep Dive