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Pronunciation family

Chinese characters for “ku”

17 characters share this plain syllable. Compare tone marks first, then open a character for writing and usage.

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Tone by tone

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The same letters can represent different words when the tone changes.

First tone

kū

哭

kū

to weep, to cry, to wail

10 strokes · HSK 3.0 L3

刳

kū

to cut open, to dig out, to rip up, to scoop out

busy

dried out, withered, decayed

cave, hole

hole, cave

skeleton

Third tone

kǔ

苦

kǔ

bitter

8 strokes · HSK 3.0 L4

Fourth tone

kù

酷

kù

strong, stimulating

14 strokes · HSK 3.0 L6

库

kù

armory, treasury, warehouse

7 strokes · HSK 3.0 L5

绔

kù

pants, trousers, underwear

9 strokes

庫

kù

armory, treasury, warehouse

pants, trousers

one of five legendary emperors

pants, trousers

pants, trousers

one of five legendary emperors

20 strokes

Sound in context

Words using this pronunciation family

Move from isolated sounds into useful vocabulary.

trousers

short pants

to cry

bitter

exhausting

garage

difficult

warehouse

jeans

酸甜苦辣suān-tián-kǔ-là

lit. sour, sweet, bitter and spicy

Chinese characters for “ku”

Separate the sound family before memorizing characters

Words using this pronunciation family

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