Pinyin Syllable

Chinese characters pronounced gou

Learn common Chinese characters pronounced gou, including 构 gòu, 够 gòu, 购 gòu, 狗 gǒu, 沟 gōu. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…

How to Pronounce This Syllable

For gou, start on g and let it run into ou without pausing; keep the mouth moving and hold the tone to the end.

Initial g

Start the syllable on the initial g, then run straight into the final ou — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.

Final ou

Settle the final ou into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.

Study Tip

Start with the most common characters (构 gòu, 够 gòu, 购 gòu, 狗 gǒu, 沟 gōu) and lock in their tones. 7 common characters share the sound gou, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.

Learn by Tone

gou turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.

1st tone

Taking the 1st tone here: 沟, 勾, 钩 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

沟gōuditch; gutter 勾gōu / gòuto cancel; to delineate; hook; affair; to reach for (with hand)钩gōuentice; hook

3rd tone

Taking the 3rd tone here: 狗 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

狗gǒudog

4th tone

Taking the 4th tone here: 构, 够, 购 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

构gòuBroussonetia papyrifera; to construct; to form; to make up; to compose 够gòuto reach; to be enough 购gòuto buy; to purchase

Common Words With This Sound

Seeing gou inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.

机构jī gòumechanism; structure; organization; agency 结构jié gòustructure; composition; makeup; architecture 构成gòu chéngto constitute; to form; to compose; to make up 能够néng gòuto be capable of; to be able to; can 不够bù gòunot enough; insufficient; inadequate 足够zú gòuenough; sufficient 购物gòu wùshopping 购买gòu mǎito purchase; to buy 收购shōu gòuto purchase or acquire in bulk or at an official level (esp. by a state or organization); to acquire or take over (a company or equity); acquisition; takeover 狗子gǒu zi(coll.) dog

Characters

7 common characters in this group.

Character#1 构 gòuBroussonetia papyrifera; to construct; to form; to make up; to composeTraditional: 搆 Character#2 够 gòuto reach; to be enoughTraditional: 夠 Character#3 购 gòuto buy; to purchaseTraditional: 購 Character#4 狗 gǒudogTraditional: 狗 Character#5 沟 gōuditch; gutterTraditional: 溝 Character#6 勾 gōu / gòuto cancel; to delineate; hook; affair; to reach for (with hand)Traditional: 勾 Character#7 钩 gōuentice; hookTraditional: 鉤