Introducing Basic Stroke
gōu
The word gōu means "hook." Like zhé, the basic stroke gōu isn't used in characters all by itself. Rather, it's always used as a final flourish, a hook used to end another basic stroke or combination of strokes.
For example, here's what gōu looks like when used as part of the compound stroke héng gōu:
Stroke #9 – héng gōu:
(Characters 73-76)
For example, by adding a héng gōu stroke to the top of the character 头 (head), which you've already learned, you can form a new character:
Character | Mandarin Pronunciation | Meaning in English |
买 | mǎi | to buy |
Stroke Order (6): héng gōu + diǎn + diǎn + héng + shù piě + nà |
Now, add two more strokes above this character, and you've got a related character with a similar pronunciation:
Character | Mandarin Pronunciation | Meaning in English |
卖 | mài | to sell |
Stroke Order (8): héng + shù + héng gōu + diǎn + diǎn + héng + shù piě + nà |
Before moving on, be sure to note the difference in pronunciation between these two words in Mandarin: 买 is pronounced mǎi, while 卖 is pronounced mài, so these words are not homophones.
The next word includes a fairly common combination of strokes: piě + héng gōu appearing at or near the top of a character. In this case, this combination is placed over the character 人, which you already know:
Character | Mandarin Pronunciation | Meaning in English |
欠 | qiàn | to lack |
Stroke Order (4): piě + héng gōu + shù piě + nà |
Here's another reasonably common character that also begins with the piě + héng gōu combination:
Character | Mandarin Pronunciation | Meaning in English |
鱼 | yú | fish |
Stroke Order (8): piě + héng gōu + shù + héng zhé + héng + shù + héng + héng |
Don't let the seeming complexity of this character throw you! The major part of it is a character you've seen before: 田 (pronounced tián in Mandarin), with the same five strokes – shù + héng zhé + héng + shù + héng – in the same order.