沽 (gū): abbr. for Tianjin 天津 (also 津沽), to buy, to sell
沽 (gū) is a Chinese character meaning “to buy.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 古 (phonetic). It ranks #2922 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 沽 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).
Definitions
- abbr. for Tianjin 天津 (also 津沽)
- to buy
- to sell
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 沽 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 待价而沽phrase | dài jià ér gū | to sell only for a good price (idiom) |
| 沽名钓誉phrase | gū míng diào yù | to angle for fame (idiom) |
| 大沽口炮台 | dà gū kǒu pào tái | Taku Forts, maritime defense works in Tianjin dating back to the Ming dynasty, playing a prominent role during the Op... |
| 大沽炮台 | dà gū pào tái | Taku Forts, maritime defense works in Tianjin dating back to the Ming dynasty, playing a prominent role during the Op... |
| 汉沽区 | hàn gū qū | Hangu former district of Tianjin, now part of Binhai subprovincial district 濱海新區|滨海新区 |
| 沽空 | gū kōng | (finance) to short sell |
| 沽源县 | gū yuán xiàn | Guyuan, a county in Zhangjiakou City 張家口市|张家口市, Hebei |
| 沽源proper-noun | gū yuán | see 沽源縣|沽源县 |
| 塘沽区 | táng gū qū | Tanggu former district of Tianjin, now part of Binhai subprovincial district 濱海新區|滨海新区 |
| 汉沽proper-noun | hàn gū | Hangu former district of Tianjin, now part of Binhai subprovincial district 濱海新區|滨海新区 |
| 泸沽湖proper-noun | lú gū hú | Lugu Lake, alpine lake on the border of Yunnan and Sichuan |
| 津沽 | jīn gū | another name for Tianjin 天津 |
| 塘沽proper-noun | táng gū | Tanggu former district of Tianjin, now part of Binhai subprovincial district 濱海新區|滨海新区 |
沽 appears in 13 compound words: 31 as the first character, 31 as the last, and 38 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 沽 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (2)
Example Sentences
这条沽流经三个省份，滋养了沿岸的农田。
zhè tiáo gū liú jīng sān gě shěng fèn , zī yǎng le yán àn de nóng tián .
This river flows through three provinces, nourishing the farmland along its banks.
未沽货都要交税?荷兰“空手抽白刃”狠征 36...
wèi gū huò dōu yāo jiāo shuì ? hé lán kōng shǒu chōu bái 刃 hěn zhēng 3 6 . . .
Do you have to pay taxes before selling? The Netherlands "draws a white blade empty-handed" and conquers 36...
...北水炒D乜】净流出73.66亿元,买美团沽中海油
. . . běi shuǐ chǎo D 乜 jìng liú chū 7 3 . 6 6 yì yuán , mǎi měi tuán gū zhōng hǎi yóu
... Beishui speculated on what to do] with a net outflow of 7.366 billion yuan, buying Meituan and selling CNOOC
...北水炒D乜】净流出40.57亿元,买腾讯沽盈富基金
. . . běi shuǐ chǎo D 乜 jìng liú chū 4 0 . 5 7 yì yuán , mǎi téng xùn gū yíng fù jī jīn
... Beishui speculated on what to do] with a net outflow of 4.057 billion yuan, buying Tencent and selling Tracker Fund
...乜】净流入31.31亿元,买南方恒生科技沽泡泡玛特
. . . 乜 jìng liú rù 3 1 . 3 1 yì yuán , mǎi nán fāng héng shēng kē jì gū pāo pāo 玛 tè
... What] net inflow of 3.131 billion yuan, buying Southern Hang Seng Technology and selling Bubble Mart
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 沽 (gū) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 沽 and 销?
How many strokes does 沽 have?
What is the radical of 沽?
What are the components of 沽?
What are common words containing 沽?
What characters sound the same as 沽 (gū)?
Is 沽 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 沽 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.