故 (gù): happening, instance, reason
故 (gù) is a Chinese character meaning “happening.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 古 (phonetic) and 攵 (semantic). It ranks #572 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 故 tap. Its radical form 攵 (rap) appears in many related characters such as 放 (fàng, to put, to release), 教 (jiào, (bound form) to teach), 收 (shōu, to receive).
Definitions
- happening
- instance
- reason
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 故 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 故
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 故事noun | gù shì | old practice | 3 |
| 故意adverb | gù yì | deliberately | 4 |
| 事故noun | shì gù | accident | 5 |
| 故障noun | gù zhàng | malfunction | 6 |
| 故乡noun | gù xiāng | home | 5 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 缘故noun | yuán gù | reason |
| 无缘无故adverb | wú yuán wú gù | (idiom) no cause or reason |
| 已故verb | yǐ gù | the late |
| 无故adverb | wú gù | without cause or reason |
| 何故adverb | hé gù | what for? |
| 世故noun | shì gù | the ways of the world |
| 变故noun | biàn gù | an unforeseen event |
| 欲擒故纵phrase | yù qín gù zòng | In order to capture, one must let loose. |
| 典故noun | diǎn gù | classical story or quote from the literature |
| 故人noun | gù rén | old friend |
| 故里noun | gù lǐ | home town |
| 故土noun | gù tǔ | native country |
| 故居noun | gù jū | former residence |
| 一见如故 | yī jiàn rú gù | familiarity at first sight |
| 故地重游phrase | gù dì chóng yóu | see 舊地重遊|旧地重游 |
故 appears in 101 compound words: 53 as the first character, 35 as the last, and 12 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 故 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (27)
to return to one's old bad habits; to relapse into a former undesirable state
to return to one's old bad habits; to relapse into a former undesirable state
Showing 12 of 27 idioms containing 故.
Example Sentences
写好故字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。
xiě hǎo gù zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .
To write the character "故" correctly, one must master the proper stroke order.
东京晴空塔爆电梯急坠事故 约20人受困5.5小时 1200游客滞...
dōng jīng qíng kōng tǎ bào diàn tī jí zhuì shì gù yuē 2 0 rén shòu kùn 5 . 5 xiǎo shí 1 2 0 0 yóu kè zhì . . .
Tokyo Skytree explosion elevator crash about 20 people trapped for 5.5 hours 1,200 tourists stranded...
东京晴空塔爆电梯急坠事故 约20人受困 大批游客滞留观景台
dōng jīng qíng kōng tǎ bào diàn tī jí zhuì shì gù yuē 2 0 rén shòu kùn dà pī yóu kè zhì liú guàn jǐng tái
Tokyo Skytree exploded and fell sharply, about 20 people were trapped, and a large number of tourists were stranded at the observation deck
春节连假最后一天 国道事故34件、局部路段回堵
chūn jié lián jiǎ zuì hòu yī tiān guó dào shì gù 3 4 jiàn , jú bù lù duàn huí dǔ
On the last day of the Spring Festival holiday, there were 34 accidents on national highways, and some road sections were blocked
(专题)致自由!盘点11部那些年不能说的故事
( zhuān tí ) zhì zì yóu ! pán diǎn 1 1 bù nà xiē nián bù néng shuō de gù shì
To freedom! Take stock of the 11 stories that cannot be told in those years
他的故事是真的吗？
Tā de gùshi shì zhēn de ma?
Is his story true?
最大可能假想事故什么时候会发生？
Zuì dà kěnéng jiǎxiǎng shìgù shénmeshíhou huì fāshēng?
When will the most probable hypothetical accident occur?
你敢问他有关事故的问题吗？
Nǐ gǎn wèn tā yǒuguān shìgù de wèntí ma?
Dare you ask him about the accident?
你不喜欢爱情故事，是吗？
Nǐ bù xǐhuan àiqíng gùshi, shì ma?
You don't like love stories, do you?
谁告诉你这个故事？
Shéi gàosu nǐ zhège gùshi?
Who told you the story?
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 攵 (tap) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 故 (gù) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 故 and 苦?
How many strokes does 故 have?
What is the radical of 故?
What are the components of 故?
What are common words containing 故?
What characters sound the same as 故 (gù)?
Is 故 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 故 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.