(gōu): to attract, to arouse, to tick

(gōu) is a Chinese character meaning “to attract.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #2003 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to attract
  2. to arouse
  3. to tick

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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
gōu yǐnto seduce
gōu dato gang up
gòu dàngshady business
yī bǐ gōu xiāoto write off at one stroke
gōu jiéto collude with
gōu huàto sketch out
gōu xīn dòu jiǎoto fight and scheme against each other (idiom)
gōu lèto draw the outline of
zhí gōu gōu(of one's gaze) fixed
gōu gǔ dìng lǐPythagorean theorem
gōu xiāoto write off
gōu jiān dā bèi(idiom) arms around each other's shoulders
gōu duìto blend various types of wine (or spirits, or fruit juices etc)
gōu tōngto collude with
lǐ gōu wài liánto act from inside in coordination with attackers outside
44
Total compounds
75
As first character
7
As last character
18
As middle character

appears in 44 compound words: 75 as the first character, 7 as the last, and 18 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.

xíng
0.73815 co-occurrences
zuì
0.66716 co-occurrences
chè
0.63811 co-occurrences
jiàn
0.5161,626 co-occurrences
jié
0.48310,182 co-occurrences
zhí
0.45711 co-occurrences
0.45414 co-occurrences
0.45115 co-occurrences
duì
0.444408 co-occurrences
zǎo
0.43114 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

gōu jiān dā bèiHSK 7+

(idiom) arms around each other's shoulders

phrase
gōu sān dā sìHSK 7+

to make hanky-panky; to seduce women

phrase
gōuxīndòujiǎoHSK 7+

elaborate and refined; to fight and scheme against each other

phrase
lǐ gōu wài liánHSK 7+

to act from inside in coordination with attackers outside; attacked from both inside and out

phrase
yībǐgōuxiāoHSK 7+

to write off at one stroke; to cancel once and for all

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men gōu zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "勾."

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

高雄景点“岗山之眼”售票员结验票员 一票两卖牟利被起诉

gāo xióng jǐng diǎn gǎng shān zhī yǎn shòu piào yuán gōu jié yàn piào yuán yī piào liǎng mài 牟 lì bèi qǐ sù

The ticket seller of the Kaohsiung attraction "Eye of Gangshan" colluded with the ticket inspector to sell one ticket and two for profit and was prosecuted

RfiFeb 2026

黎智英欺诈罪上诉得直获撤刑 18年“外罪”提早服刑 最快92岁出狱

lí zhì yīng qī zhà zuì shàng sù dé zhí huò chè xíng 1 8 nián gōu wài zuì tí zǎo fú xíng zuì kuài 9 2 suì chū yù

Jimmy Lai's fraud appeal was directly withdrawn, and he served his sentence early for the 18-year "hooking offense" and was released from prison at the earliest age of 92

EttodayFeb 2026

挺过“二嫂”风波!ØZI东区约会辣模女友 私下...

tǐng guò gōu èr sǎo fēng bō ! Z I dōng qū yuē huì là mó nǚ yǒu sī xià . . .

Survived the "hook second sister-in-law" turmoil! ØZI East District Dating Hot Model Girlfriend Private...

EttodayFeb 2026

...lly 重现36年“GameBoy”卡声起玩家回忆

. . . l l y chóng xiàn 3 6 nián G a m e B o y kǎ shēng gōu qǐ wán jiā huí yì

... lly recreates the 36-year-old "GameBoy" card sound to evoke players' memories

Tatoeba

他用他的迪吉里杜管引了她。

Tāyòng tā de díjílǐdùguǎn gōuyǐn le tā.

He seduced her with his didgeridoo.

Tatoeba

这些音乐起了我儿时的回忆。

Zhèxiē yīnyuè gōuqǐ le wǒ érshí de huíyì.

The music carried me back to my childhood.

Tatoeba

那首歌总是起我中学时代的回忆。

Nà shǒu gē zǒngshì gōuqǐ wǒ zhōngxué shídài de huíyì.

Every time I hear that song, I think of my high school days.

Tatoeba

在网上人比在街上容易。

Zài wǎngshàng gōurén bǐ zài jiēshang róngyì.

It is easier to hit on people on the Internet than in the street.

Tatoeba

孩子的新毛衣上了一个洞。

Háizi de xīn máoyī shàng gōu le yī gè dòng.

The child has picked a hole in his new jumper.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the wrap radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced gōu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 勾 (gōu) mean in Chinese?
勾 (gōu) primarily means "to attract." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2003 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 勾 have?
勾 is written with 4 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 勾?
The radical associated with 勾 is 勹 (wrap). This radical appears in many characters related to wrap.
What are the components of 勾?
勾 is composed of: 勹 (structural), 厶 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿹勹厶 with a surround-from-upper-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 勾?
Common words with 勾 include: 勾引 (gōu yǐn, "to seduce"); 勾搭 (gōu da, "to gang up"); 勾当 (gòu dàng, "shady business"); 一笔勾销 (yī bǐ gōu xiāo, "to write off at one stroke"); 勾结 (gōu jié, "to collude with"). There are over 44 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 勾 (gōu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation gōu: 沟 (ditch), 钩 (to hook), 狗 (dog), 构 ((Tw) (coll.) variant of 夠|够), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 勾 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 勾 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.