顾 (gù): to look after, to take into consideration, to attend to

顾 (gù) is a Chinese character meaning “to look after.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 厄 (phonetic) and 页 (semantic). It ranks #815 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 顾 head. Its radical form 页 (page) appears in many related characters such as 页 (yè, page), 顺 (shùn, to obey), 须 (xū, must).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to look after
  2. to take into consideration
  3. to attend to

Etymology & Origin

顾

pictophonetichead

Decomposition: ⿰厄页 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 顾

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
照顾verbzhào guto take care of3
顾客noungù kècustomer4
顾问noungù wènadviser6
回顾verbhuí gùto look back6
不顾verbbù gùin spite of6
只顾adverbzhǐ gùto focus solely on6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
顾虑verbgù lǜmisgivings
不顾一切phrasebù gù yī qiè(idiom) to disregard all negative considerations
光顾verbguāng gùto visit (as a customer)
眷顾verbjuàn gùto care for
顾及verbgù jíto take into consideration
顾忌noungù jìto have misgivings
兼顾verbjiān gùto handle two or more responsibilities at the same time
环顾verbhuán gùto look around
惠顾nounhuì gùyour patronage
主顾nounzhǔ gùclient
不屑一顾phrasebù xiè yī gùto disdain as beneath contempt (idiom)
义无反顾phraseyì wú fǎn gùhonor does not allow one to glance back (idiom)
不管不顾phrasebù guǎn bù gù(idiom) to pay scant regard to (sth)
奋不顾身phrasefèn bù gù shēnto dash on bravely with no thought of personal safety (idiom)
后顾之忧phrasehòu gù zhī yōufears of trouble in the rear (idiom)
65
Total compounds
38
As first character
38
As last character
23
As middle character

顾 appears in 65 compound words: 38 as the first character, 38 as the last, and 23 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 顾 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

问wèn
0.70630,326 co-occurrences
照zhào
0.5177,836 co-occurrences
虑lǜ
0.450986 co-occurrences
屑xiè
0.426264 co-occurrences
客kè
0.4194,640 co-occurrences
灿càn
0.414166 co-occurrences
钧jūn
0.412248 co-occurrences
兼jiān
0.3982,604 co-occurrences
忌jì
0.393416 co-occurrences
回huí
0.3924,718 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (20)

不顾前后bù gù qián hòuHSK 3+

regardless of what's before or after (idiom); rushing blindly into sth

phrase
不管不顾bùguǎnbùgùHSK 4+

to not take care of; recklessly

phrase
不屑一顾bùxièyīgùHSK 7+

infra dig; beneath contempt; displeasing to look at; sneering; to scorn; to sniff at; to dismiss (work or a suggestion)

phrase
奋不顾身fènbùgùshēnHSK 4+

to dash ahead without regard to one's personal safety

phrase
公私兼顾gōngsījiāngùHSK 6+

to take into consideration both the public and the private interest

phrase
顾此失彼gùcǐshībǐHSK 5+

to attend to one thing and lose sight of another; to be unable to take care of everything at once

phrase
顾名思义gùmíngsīyìHSK 5+

as the name implies

phrase
顾盼自雄gù pàn zì xióngHSK 6+

to strut about feeling complacent (idiom)

phrase
顾全大局gùquándàjúHSK 5+

to take the interests of the whole into account; to take the situation as a whole into consideration

phrase
顾影自怜gù yǐng zì liánHSK 6+

lit. looking at one's shadow and feeling sorry for oneself (idiom); fig. alone and dejected

phrase
后顾之忧hòugùzhīyōuHSK 6+

trouble back at home; family worries

phrase
三顾茅庐sāngùmáolú

to sincerely and repeatedly request someone to take up a post

phrase

Showing 12 of 20 idioms containing 顾.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个顾字的意思与它的部首有关。

zhè gě gù zì de yì sī yú tā de bù shǒu yǒu guān .

The meaning of the character "顾" is related to its radical.

TvbsFeb 2026

...妈 300万预算“买精生子”:我有能力照顾

. . . mā 3 0 0 wàn yù suàn mǎi jīng shēng zǐ : wǒ yǒu néng lì zhào gù

... Mom 3 million budget to "buy sperm and have children": I have the ability to take care of it

Am730Feb 2026

小虎解码:新股改革回顾 ——“大包围”失效 资本博弈定胜负

xiǎo hǔ jiě mǎ : xīn gǔ gǎi gé huí gù — — dà bāo wéi shī xiào zī běn bó yì dìng shèng fù

Xiaohu Decoded: Review of IPO Reform - The "Great Encirclement" Fails The Capital Game Determines the Outcome of the Victory or Defeat

StheadlineFeb 2026

...Tesla猛撼泥头车“甩辘” 司机弃车不顾而去

. . . T e s l a měng hàn ní tóu chē shuǎi 辘 sī jī qì chē bù gù ér qù

... Tesla slammed the mud head car and "threw the wheel" The driver abandoned the car and left without looking back

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

通膨上升、减重药热销 美食品业降价吸引顾客回流

tōng péng shàng shēng , jiǎn chóng yào rè xiāo měi shí pǐn yè jiàng jià xī yǐn gù kè huí liú

Inflation rises, weight loss drugs are hot, and the price reduction of the US food industry attracts customers to return

公視新聞網 PnnFeb 2026

系统遭骇不排除顾客资料外流 圆山大饭店启动应变机制

xì tǒng zāo hài bù pái chú gù kè zī liào wài liú yuán shān dà fàn diàn qǐ dòng yīng biàn jī zhì

The system was hacked and the leakage of customer data was not ruled out, and the Grand Hotel launched a contingency mechanism

Tatoeba

要是我死了,谁来照顾我的孩子们?

Yàoshi wǒ sǐ le, shéi lái zhàogu wǒ de háizimen?

Were I to die, who would look after my children?

Tatoeba

在草原上照顾羊群的人叫什么?

Zài cǎoyuán shàng zhàogu yángqún de rén jiào shénme?

What do you call a man who takes care of sheep in the field?

Tatoeba

当我们离开的时候,谁来照顾狗?

Dāng wǒmen líkāi de shíhou, shéi lái zhàogu gǒu?

Who will take care of the dog while we are away?

Tatoeba

谁将照顾这个婴儿?

Shéi jiāng zhàogu zhège yīng'ér?

Who will take care of the baby?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 页 (head) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced gù

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 顾 (gù) mean in Chinese?
顾 (gù) primarily means "to look after." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #815 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 顾 have?
顾 is written with 10 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 顾?
The radical associated with 顾 is 页 (page). This radical appears in many characters related to page.
What are the components of 顾?
顾 is composed of: 厄 (phonetic), 页 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰厄页 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 顾?
Common words with 顾 include: 照顾 (zhào gu, "to take care of"); 顾客 (gù kè, "customer"); 顾问 (gù wèn, "adviser"); 回顾 (huí gù, "to look back"); 不顾 (bù gù, "in spite of"). There are over 65 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 顾 (gù)?
Several characters share the pronunciation gù: 故 (happening), 古 (ancient), 股 (thigh), 姑 (aunt), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 顾 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 顾 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 顾 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.