(gāng): head rope of a fishing net, guiding principle, key link

(gāng) is a Chinese character meaning “head rope of a fishing net.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1910 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, thread. Its radical form (silk) appears in many related characters such as (, to connect), (lěi, to accumulate), (shào, to continue).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. head rope of a fishing net
  2. guiding principle
  3. key link

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticthread

Decomposition: ⿰纟冈 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
dà gāngsynopsis
tí gāngoutline
gāng lǐngprogram (i.e. plan of action)
线shàng gāng shàng xiànto make a mountain out of a molehill
gāng yàooutline
tí gāng qiè lǐngto concentrate on the main points (idiom)
zhèng gāngpolitical program
dān gāngto play the leading role
gāng jìlaw and order
jiào xué dà gāngcourse syllabus
zhōng sū jiě jué xuán àn dà gāng xié dìngthe treaty of 1923 normalizing relations between the Soviet Union and the Northern Warlord government of China
xíng dòng gāng lǐngaction plan
sān gāng wǔ chángthree principles and five virtues (idiom)
dào fǎn tiān gāngto violate the natural order
gòng tóng gāng lǐngcommon program
45
Total compounds
9
As first character
69
As last character
22
As middle character

appears in 45 compound words: 9 as the first character, 69 as the last, and 22 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

lǐng
0.53414,856 co-occurrences
jūn
0.4001,092 co-occurrences
dān
0.3932,274 co-occurrences
dǎng
0.3913,510 co-occurrences
guō
0.3911,290 co-occurrences
xiāo
0.390528 co-occurrences
wěn
0.38278 co-occurrences
cǎo
0.3762,010 co-occurrences
yāo
0.3738,166 co-occurrences
guī
0.3722,028 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

Běncǎo GāngmùHSK 7+

Compendium of Materia Medica

gòngtóng gānglǐngHSK 7+

common program; the Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference

noun
tí gāng qiè lǐngHSK 7+

to concentrate on the main points (idiom); to bring out the essentials

phrase

Showing 3 of 6 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解字的来源,有助于理解中国文化。

le xiè gāng zì de lái yuán , yǒu zhù yú lǐ xiè zhōng guó wén huā .

Understanding the origin of the character "纲" helps to comprehend Chinese culture.

LtnMar 2026

TPBL》下半季化身“云豹杀手”蔡宸透露角色转变

T P B L xià bàn jì huà shēn yún bào shā shǒu Cài 宸 gāng tòu lù jiǎo sè zhuǎn biàn

CriMar 2026

速览“十五五”规划要中的16个“强国”-国际在线

sù lǎn shí wǔ wǔ guī huá gāng yāo zhōng de 1 6 gè qiáng guó guó jì zài xiàn

A Quick Look at the 16 "Powerhouse" Sectors in the 15th Five-Year Plan Outline - China Radio International

LtnMar 2026

9.27亿保证金换股权!远航前董座张维遭控“假债务真执行” 这原因脱身

9 . 2 7 yì bǎo zhèng jīn huàn gǔ quán ! yuǎn háng qián dǒng zuò zhāng gāng wéi zāo kòng jiǎ zhài wù zhēn zhí háng zhè yuán yīn tuō shēn

927 Million in Collateral for Equity! Former Far Eastern Air Transport Chairman Chang Kang-wei Accused of "Fake Debt, Real Enforcement"—Here's How He Escaped

工商時報Feb 2026

中共中央政治局讨论“十五五”要与《政府工作报告》

zhōng gòng zhōng yāng zhèng zhì jú tǎo lùn shí wǔ wǔ gāng yāo yǔ zhèng fǔ gōng zuò bào gào

The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee discusses the "15th Five-Year Plan" outline and the "Government Work Report"

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

重庆发布“十五五”规划要:突出民生福祉与新质生产力

chóng qìng fā bù shí wǔ wǔ guī huá gāng yāo : tū chū mín shēng fú 祉 yǔ xīn zhì shēng chǎn lì

Chongqing released the outline of the "15th Five-Year Plan": highlighting people's livelihood and well-being and new quality productivity

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced gāng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 纲 (gāng) mean in Chinese?
纲 (gāng) primarily means "head rope of a fishing net." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1910 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 纲 have?
纲 is written with 7 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 纲?
The radical associated with 纲 is 纟 (silk). This radical appears in many characters related to silk.
What are the components of 纲?
纲 is composed of: 纟 (semantic), 冈 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰纟冈 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 纲?
Common words with 纲 include: 大纲 (dà gāng, "synopsis"); 提纲 (tí gāng, "outline"); 纲领 (gāng lǐng, "program (i.e. plan of action)"); 上纲上线 (shàng gāng shàng xiàn, "to make a mountain out of a molehill"); 纲要 (gāng yào, "outline"). There are over 45 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 纲 (gāng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation gāng: 刚 (hard), 钢 (steel), 岗 ((bound form) hillock), 冈 (ridge), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 纲 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 纲 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.