苟 (gǒu): surname Gou

苟 (gǒu) is a Chinese character meaning “surname gou.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 句 (phonetic). It ranks #3103 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 苟 wild grass. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 草 (cǎo, grass), 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. surname Gou

Etymology & Origin

苟

pictophoneticwild grass

Decomposition: ⿱艹句 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
一丝不苟verbyī sī bù gǒunot one thread loose (idiom)
苟同verbgǒu tóngto agree blindly
苟延残喘phrasegǒu yán cán chuǎn(idiom) to struggle on whilst at death's door
苟活verbgǒu huóto live without dignity
蝇营狗苟phraseyíng yíng gǒu gǒu(lit.) to swarm like flies around rotten food and drag out an ignoble existence like a dog (idiom)
苟安verbgǒu ānsee 苟且偷安
不敢苟同phrasebù gǎn gǒu tóngto beg to differ (idiom)
一笔不苟yī bǐ bù gǒulit. not even one stroke is negligent (idiom)
未敢苟同wèi gǎn gǒu tóngcan't agree with
苟且偷生phrasegǒu qiě tōu shēngto drift and live without purpose (idiom)
苟且偷安gǒu qiě tōu ānseeking only ease and comfort (idiom)
苟富贵,勿相忘gǒu fù guì , wù xiāng wàngdon't forget your friends when you become rich
不苟adjectivebù gǒunot lax
苟合verbgǒu héillicit sexual relations
苟且adjectivegǒu qiěperfunctory
18
Total compounds
61
As first character
22
As last character
17
As middle character

苟 appears in 18 compound words: 61 as the first character, 22 as the last, and 17 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 苟 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

喘chuǎn
0.589300 co-occurrences
笑xiào
0.482596 co-occurrences
魔mó
0.4631,010 co-occurrences
丝sī
0.455200 co-occurrences
偷tōu
0.398164 co-occurrences
言yán
0.380702 co-occurrences
残cán
0.376108 co-occurrences
延yán
0.366364 co-occurrences
且qiě
0.361498 co-occurrences
敢gǎn
0.35888 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

不敢苟同bùgǎngǒutóngHSK 7+

to beg to differ; to disagree

phrase
狗苟蝇营gǒu gǒu yíng yíngHSK 7+

see 蠅營狗苟|蝇营狗苟

phrase
苟且偷生gǒuqiětōushēngHSK 7+

to drag out an ignoble existence

phrase
苟延残喘gǒuyáncánchuǎnHSK 7+

to linger; to drag on one's feeble existence

phrase
未敢苟同wèi gǎn gǒu tóngHSK 7+

can't agree with

phrase
一丝不苟yīsībùgǒuHSK 7+

to be scrupulous about every detail; to not be the least bit negligent; to not overlook any detail

verb
蝇营狗苟yíngyínggǒugǒuHSK 7+

to shamelessly seek personal gain; profit by ingratiating oneself with the rich

phrase

Showing 7 of 8 idioms containing 苟.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个苟字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gè gǒu zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

In Classical Chinese, the character "苟" has different meanings.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

从‘揉制、粘芝麻、烫面、翻面、上下火烘烤’,每一道工序都一丝不苟,都要讲述给粉丝们。

cóng róu zhì , nián zhī má , tàng miàn , fān miàn , shàng xià huǒ hōng kǎo , měi yī dào gōng xù dōu yī sī bù gǒu , dōu yāo jiǎng shù gěi fěn sī men .

From “kneading, coating with sesame seeds, blanching the dough, flipping, and baking with top and bottom heat,” every step is carried out with meticulous care and must be explained to our followers.

爱范儿Aug 2026

游戏大厂纷纷被出售,或主动收缩战线,依靠热门产品的在线模式苟延残喘。

yóu xì dà hǎn fēn fēn bèi chū shòu , huò zhǔ dòng shōu suō zhàn xiàn , yī kào rè mén chǎn pǐn de zài xiàn mó shì gǒu yán cán chuǎn .

Major game companies are being sold off one after another, or are voluntarily scaling back their operations, clinging to survival by relying on the online modes of their popular titles.

IT之家Aug 2026

若周期缩短但一丝不苟地完成了每一项测试,应称为“高效车”而非“速成车”。

ruò zhōu qī suō duǎn dàn yī sī bù gǒu dì wán chéng le měi yī xiàng cè shì , yīng chèn wéi gāo xiào chē ér fēi sù chéng chē .

If the development cycle is shortened but every test is carried out with meticulous care, the car should be called a “high-efficiency car” rather than a “quick-build car.”

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

陆羽《茶经》记载的唐代古法煎茶流程,也被该团队一丝不苟地复现。

lù yǔ chá jīng jì zài de táng dài gǔ fǎ jiān chá liú chéng , yě bèi gāi tuán duì yī sī bù gǒu dì fù xiàn .

The team also meticulously recreated the ancient Tang Dynasty method of brewing tea as described in Lu Yu’s *Classic of Tea*.

中国新闻网·体育May 2026

随着观众一次次欢呼,吴宜泽一丝不苟的脸上,终于露出浅浅的笑容。

suí zhe guàn zhòng yī cì cì huān hū , wú yí zé yī sī bù gǒu de liǎn shàng , zhōng yú lù chū qiǎn qiǎn de xiào róng .

As the audience cheered again and again, a faint smile finally appeared on Wu Yize’s usually stern face.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (wild grass) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced gǒu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 苟 (gǒu) mean in Chinese?
苟 (gǒu) primarily means "surname gou." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3103 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 苟 and 拘?
苟 (gǒu) and 拘 (jū) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 艹 vs 扌 (same 句 component).
How many strokes does 苟 have?
苟 is written with 8 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 苟?
The radical associated with 苟 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 苟?
苟 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 句 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹句 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 苟?
Common words with 苟 include: 一丝不苟 (yī sī bù gǒu, "not one thread loose (idiom)"); 苟同 (gǒu tóng, "to agree blindly"); 苟延残喘 (gǒu yán cán chuǎn, "(idiom) to struggle on whilst at death's door"); 苟活 (gǒu huó, "to live without dignity"); 蝇营狗苟 (yíng yíng gǒu gǒu, "(lit.) to swarm like flies around rotten food and drag out an ignoble existence like a dog (idiom)"). There are over 18 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 苟 (gǒu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation gǒu: 狗 (dog). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 苟 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 苟 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 苟 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.