Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced ou
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced ou, including 区 qū / ōu, 欧 ōu, 偶 ǒu. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words, and example sentences.
How to Pronounce This Syllable
ou has no consonant initial — open straight into the vowel ou, keep the mouth shape steady, and carry the tone all the way through.
Initial o
Start the syllable on the initial o, 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 (区 qū / ōu, 欧 ōu, 偶 ǒu) and lock in their tones. 3 common characters share the sound ou, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
ou turns up here with 2 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: 区, 欧 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 偶 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing ou inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
3 common characters in this group.