(gōu): ditch, gutter, groove

(gōu) is a Chinese character meaning “ditch.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1599 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. ditch
  2. gutter
  3. groove

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵勾 (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

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbgōu tōngto join5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shuǐ gōugutter
yīn gōusewer
fù gǔ gōugroin (anatomy)
pái shuǐ gōugutter
háo gōutrench
gōu qúchannel
dài gōugeneration gap
鸿hóng gōu(fig.) gulf
hǎi gōumarine trench
shān gōuvalley
gōu cáogroove
gōu hègorge
hé gōubrook
lǒng gōufurrow (agriculture)
mén tóu gōu qūMentougou, a district of Beijing
58
Total compounds
12
As first character
64
As last character
24
As middle character

appears in 58 compound words: 12 as the first character, 64 as the last, and 24 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.

0.5063,306 co-occurrences
cáo
0.4972,742 co-occurrences
cūn
0.48223,634 co-occurrences
yáo
0.451996 co-occurrences
0.449960 co-occurrences
tōng
0.44425,998 co-occurrences
chōng
0.4443,666 co-occurrences
jiā
0.433912 co-occurrences
qiáo
0.4274,878 co-occurrences
xiāng
0.4274,902 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

清晨的面波光粼粼,倒映着岸边的柳树。

qīng chén de gōu miàn bō guāng 粼 粼 , dǎo yìng zhe àn biān de liǔ shù .

The early morning stream glistened with ripples, reflecting the willow trees along the shore.

99 健康网Feb 2026

女生聊天喜欢插嘴巴的原因,从通角度分析

nǚ shēng liáo tiān xǐ huān chā zuǐ bā de yuán yīn , cóng gōu tōng jiǎo dù fēn xī

The reasons why girls like to interject in chat are analyzed from a communication perspective

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...万安推3大新政挨批仓促上路 绿议员叹欠缺通:别把好事给做坏

. . . wàn ān tuī 3 dà xīn zhèng āi pī cāng cù shàng lù lǜ yì yuán tàn qiàn quē gōu tōng : bié bǎ hǎo shì gěi zuò huài

... Wan'an pushed 3 new policies and was criticized for rushing on the road, and the green lawmaker lamented the lack of communication: Don't do good things badly

中時新聞網Feb 2026

...访美 杨琼璎赞“自动补位”:搭建更稳固的通桥梁

. . . fǎng měi yáng 琼 璎 zàn zì dòng bǔ wèi : dā jiàn gēng wěn gù de gōu tōng qiáo liáng

... Visit to the United States Yang Qiongying praised "automatic filling": building a more stable communication bridge

English News - RthkFeb 2026

外交部:中美双方就特朗普访华事宜保持

wài jiāo bù : zhōng měi shuāng fāng jiù tè lǎng pǔ fǎng huá shì yí bǎo chí gōu tōng

Ministry of Foreign Affairs: China and the United States maintain communication on Trump's visit to China

EttodayFeb 2026

台东男情绪不稳坐初来桥边护栏 警耐心通趁隙拉回桥面

tái dōng nán qíng xù bù wěn zuò chū lái qiáo biān hù lán jǐng nài xīn gōu tōng chèn xì lā huí qiáo miàn

Taitung man was emotionally unstable, sitting on the guardrail of the bridge when he first came, and the police patiently communicated and took advantage of the opportunity to pull back to the bridge deck

Tatoeba

您能用英语通您想要说的话吗?

Nín néng yòng Yīngyǔ gōutōng nín xiǎngyào shuō dehuà ma?

Can you communicate in English what you want to say?

Tatoeba

以前人们以为只有人类才懂得用语言通。

Yǐqián rénmen yǐwéi zhǐ yǒurén lèi cái dǒngde yòngyǔ yán gōutōng.

People used to think that only humans could use language.

Tatoeba

飞行员用无线电与机场通。

Fēixíngyuán yòng wúxiàndiàn yǔ jīchǎng gōutōng.

Pilots communicate with the airport by radio.

Tatoeba

英语是一种通的手段。

Yīngyǔ shì yīzhǒng gōutōng de shǒuduàn.

English is a means of communication.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced gōu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 沟 (gōu) mean in Chinese?
沟 (gōu) primarily means "ditch." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1599 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 沟 have?
沟 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 沟?
The radical associated with 沟 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 沟?
沟 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 勾 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵勾 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 沟?
Common words with 沟 include: 沟通 (gōu tōng, "to join"); 水沟 (shuǐ gōu, "gutter"); 阴沟 (yīn gōu, "sewer"); 腹股沟 (fù gǔ gōu, "groin (anatomy)"); 排水沟 (pái shuǐ gōu, "gutter"). There are over 58 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 沟 (gōu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation gōu: 构 ((Tw) (coll.) variant of 夠|够), 购 (to buy), 勾 (to attract), 钩 (to hook), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 沟 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 沟 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.