Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced ku
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced ku, including 苦 kǔ, 库 kù, 哭 kū, 酷 kù, 裤 kù. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
For ku, push a small puff of air on k, join it to u, and hold the tone over the whole syllable.
Initial k
Start the syllable on the initial k, then run straight into the final u — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final u
Keep the lips rounded.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (苦 kǔ, 库 kù, 哭 kū, 酷 kù, 裤 kù) and lock in their tones. 6 common characters share the sound ku, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
ku 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: 哭, 枯 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 苦 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 库, 酷, 裤 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing ku inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
6 common characters in this group.