够 (gòu): enough (sufficient), enough (too much), (coll.) (before adj.) really

够 (gòu) is a Chinese character meaning “enough (sufficient).” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 句 (phonetic) and 多 (semantic). It ranks #538 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 够 more. Its radical form 夕 (evening) appears in many related characters such as 外 (wài, outside), 多 (duō, many), 夜 (yè, night).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. enough (sufficient)
  2. enough (too much)
  3. (coll.) (before adj.) really

Etymology & Origin

够

pictophoneticmore

Decomposition: ⿰句多 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 够

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
能够verbnéng gòuto be capable of4
足够verbzú gòuenough5
不够verb/adverbbù gòunot enough4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
够呛adjectivegòu qiàngunbearable
够格verbgòu géable to pass muster
够用gòu yòngadequate
够朋友verbgòu péng you(coll.) to be a true friend
够本noungòu běnto break even
够戗gòu qiàngvariant of 夠嗆|够呛
够不着verbgòu bu zháoto be unable to reach
够得上verbgòu de shàngto be good enough to be regarded as
够得着verbgòu de zháoto reach (with one's hand etc)
够受的gòu shòu deto be quite an ordeal
有够adverbyǒu gòuvery
巴不能够bā bù néng gòuavid
够意思adjectivegòu yì siwonderful
受够verbshòu gòuto have had enough of
管够guǎn gòu(coll.) as much as one wants
19
Total compounds
63
As first character
37
As last character
0
As middle character

够 appears in 19 compound words: 63 as the first character, 37 as the last, and 0 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 够 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

足zú
0.54217,793 co-occurrences
能néng
0.54270,591 co-occurrences
凑còu
0.418172 co-occurrences
没méi
0.4012,620 co-occurrences
攒cuán
0.38146 co-occurrences
们men
0.3803,080 co-occurrences
证zhèng
0.3681,352 co-occurrences
呛qiàng
0.36812 co-occurrences
乏fá
0.368620 co-occurrences
让ràng
0.362982 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这些材料已经够用了,不用再买了。

Zhèxiē cáiliào yǐjīng gòu yòng le, bùyòng zài mǎi le.

These materials are already enough; no need to buy more.

NewsFeb 2026

中国目前有足够的勇气与条件对台湾发动战争吗?

zhōng guó mù qián yǒu zú gòu de yǒng qì yǔ tiáo jiàn duì tái wān fā dòng zhàn zhēng ma ?

Does China have enough courage and conditions to launch a war against Taiwan?

NewsFeb 2026

...到最高点!国家级警报狂响 交织电影音效有够共感

. . . dào zuì gāo diǎn ! guó jiā jí jǐng bào kuáng xiǎng jiāo zhī diàn yǐng yīn xiào yǒu gòu gòng gǎn

... To the highest point! The national alarm sounded wildly, and the sound effects of the intertwined movie were sympathetic enough

NewsFeb 2026

...演协春茗送惊喜 刘江演艺贡献获表扬:我未够资格

. . . yǎn xié chūn 茗 sòng jīng xǐ liú jiāng yǎn yì gòng xiàn huò biǎo yáng wǒ wèi gòu zī gé

... The Performing Arts Association sent a surprise Liu Jiang's acting contribution was praised: I am not qualified enough

NewsFeb 2026

世界百大入侵种“海蟾蜍”有够毒 草屯社区实地移除大作战

shì jiè bǎi dà rù qīn zhǒng hǎi 蟾 蜍 yǒu gòu dú cǎo tún shè qū shí dì yí chú dà zuò zhàn

The world's top 100 invasive species "sea toads" are poisonous enough to remove the Caotun community on the spot

NewsFeb 2026

...屋9000万易手 内地客12年惨蚀3成 够买2伙上林3房

. . . wū wàn yì shǒu nèi dì kè nián cǎn shí chéng gòu mǎi huǒ shàng lín fáng

... The house changed hands for 90 million, and mainland customers suffered a loss of 30% in 12 years, which is enough to buy 2 units and 3 bedrooms in Shanglin

Tatoeba

一个像她那么大的小孩能够分辨是非吗?

Yī gè xiàng tā nàme dà de xiǎohái nénggòu fēnbiàn shìfēi ma?

Can a child of her age distinguish good from bad?

Tatoeba

有足够的食物给大家吗?

Yǒu zúgòu de shíwù gěi dàjiā ma?

Is there enough food for everyone?

Tatoeba

你确定你和汤姆有足够的水吗?

Nǐ quèdìng nǐ hé Tāngmǔ yǒu zúgòu de shuǐ ma?

Are you sure you and Tom have enough water?

Tatoeba

你希望汤姆能够做那件事,不是吗?

Nǐ xīwàng Tāngmǔ nénggòu zuò nà jiàn shì, bùshìma?

You hope that Tom will be able to do that, don't you?

Character Family

夕 Radical Family — Characters sharing the evening radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced gòu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 够 (gòu) mean in Chinese?
够 (gòu) primarily means "enough (sufficient)." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #538 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 够 and 拘?
够 (gòu) and 拘 (jū) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 夕 vs 扌 (same 句 component).
How many strokes does 够 have?
够 is written with 11 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 够?
The radical associated with 够 is 夕 (evening). This radical appears in many characters related to evening.
What are the components of 够?
够 is composed of: 句 (phonetic), 多 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰句多 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 够?
Common words with 够 include: 能够 (néng gòu, "to be capable of"); 足够 (zú gòu, "enough"); 不够 (bù gòu, "not enough"); 够呛 (gòu qiàng, "unbearable"); 够格 (gòu gé, "able to pass muster"). There are over 19 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 够 (gòu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation gòu: 狗 (dog), 构 ((Tw) (coll.) variant of 夠|够), 购 (to buy), 沟 (ditch), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 够 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 够 and the traditional form is 夠.

Practice writing 够 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.