菇 (gū): (bound form) mushroom

菇 (gū) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) mushroom.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 姑 (phonetic). It ranks #2867 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 菇 plant. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea), 菜 (cài, vegetable, dish).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) mushroom

Etymology & Origin

菇

pictophoneticplant

Decomposition: ⿱艹姑 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
蘑菇nounmó gumushroom
蘑菇云nounmó gū yúnmushroom cloud
香菇nounxiāng gūshiitake (Lentinus edodes), an edible mushroom
冬菇noundōng gūdonko shiitake mushroom, a prized type of shiitake (Lentinula edodes) cultivated in winter, with thick flesh and part...
波特贝勒菇bō tè bèi lè gūportobello mushroom
波特菇bō tè gūportobello mushroom
雪白菇xuě bái gūwhite beech mushroom (Hypsizygus tessellatus, cultivated white variety)
金针菇nounjīn zhēn gūenoki mushroom (Flammulina velutipes), used in cuisines of Japan, Korea and China, cultivated to be long, thin and white
出菇chū gū(mycology) to fruit
白玉菇bái yù gūwhite beech mushroom (Hypsizygus tessellatus, cultivated white variety)
平菇nounpíng gūoyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus)
金菇nounjīn gūenoki mushroom
真姬菇nounzhēn jī gūbeech mushroom (Hypsizygus tessulatus)
猴头菇nounhóu tóu gūHericium erinaceus
杨树菇yáng shù gūpoplar mushroom (Cyclocybe aegerita)
34
Total compounds
3
As first character
91
As last character
6
As middle character

菇 appears in 34 compound words: 3 as the first character, 91 as the last, and 6 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 菇 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

蘑mó
0.9024,265 co-occurrences
钉dīng
0.481100 co-occurrences
菌jūn
0.456268 co-occurrences
炖dùn
0.45128 co-occurrences
柄bǐng
0.441170 co-occurrences
冬dōng
0.437502 co-occurrences
乳rǔ
0.418242 co-occurrences
裸luǒ
0.406106 co-occurrences
香xiāng
0.3971,447 co-occurrences
毒dú
0.396380 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

双孢蘑菇shuāngbāo mógu

button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus)

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

菇字由11笔画组成,结构很巧妙。

gū zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .

The character "菇" consists of 11 strokes and has a very clever structure.

少数派Aug 2026

这家的葱油酱和小鸡炖蘑菇有小包装的版本,很适合一天一包。

zhè jiā de cōng yóu jiàng hé xiǎo jī dùn mó gū yǒu xiǎo bāo zhuāng de bǎn běn , hěn shì gě yī tiān yī bāo .

This restaurant offers individual-serving packages of its scallion oil sauce and chicken stewed with mushrooms, which are perfect for having one packet a day.

奇客SolidotAug 2026

因为 AI 抄写员捏造了她服用迷幻蘑菇的经历,她说自己从未碰过迷幻蘑菇。

yīn wéi A I chāo xiě yuán niē zào le tā fú yòng mí huàn mó gū de jīng lì , tā shuō zì jǐ cóng wèi pèng guò mí huàn mó gū .

Because the AI transcriber fabricated her experience with psychedelic mushrooms, she said she had never touched them.

SmzdmMar 2026

香菇粉丝蒸蒜蓉酱做法

xiāng gū fěn sī zhēng suàn 蓉 jiàng zuò fǎ

How to Make Steamed Shiitake Mushrooms with Glass Noodles and Garlic Sauce

Hk01.comMar 2026

...命白毒伞”煮汤险死 深圳通报1周2宗毒蘑菇中毒

. . . mìng bái dú sǎn zhǔ tāng xiǎn sǐ shēn 圳 tōng bào 1 zhōu 2 zōng dú mó gū zhōng dú

...Nearly Died After Boiling "White Poisonous Mushroom" Soup; Shenzhen Reports Two Cases of Poisonous Mushroom Poisoning in One Week

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

...新春走基层)山西上党:菌棒管护不停歇 香菇飘香庆丰年

. . . xīn chūn zǒu jī céng ) shān xī shàng dǎng : jūn bàng guǎn hù bù tíng xiē xiāng gū piāo xiāng qìng fēng nián

... New Year to the grassroots) Shanxi Shangdang: The management and protection of mushroom sticks does not stop, and the fragrance of shiitake mushrooms celebrates the harvest

Tatoeba

汤姆和玛丽亚到树林里采集蘑菇去了。

Tāngmǔ hé Mǎlìyà dào shùlín lǐ cǎijí mógu qù le.

Tom and Mary went into the forest to collect mushrooms.

Tatoeba

我特别喜欢蘑菇的味道。

Wǒ tèbié xǐhuan mógu de wèidao.

I especially like the flavour of the mushroom.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (plant) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced gū

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 菇 (gū) mean in Chinese?
菇 (gū) primarily means "(bound form) mushroom." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2867 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 菇 have?
菇 is written with 11 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 菇?
The radical associated with 菇 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 菇?
菇 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 姑 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹姑 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 菇?
Common words with 菇 include: 蘑菇 (mó gu, "mushroom"); 蘑菇云 (mó gū yún, "mushroom cloud"); 香菇 (xiāng gū, "shiitake (Lentinus edodes), an edible mushroom"); 冬菇 (dōng gū, "donko shiitake mushroom, a prized type of shiitake (Lentinula edodes) cultivated in winter, with thick flesh and part..."); 波特贝勒菇 (bō tè bèi lè gū, "portobello mushroom"). There are over 34 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 菇 (gū)?
Several characters share the pronunciation gū: 故 (happening), 古 (ancient), 顾 (to look after), 姑 (aunt), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 菇 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 菇 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 菇 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.