寡 (guǎ): few, widow

寡 (guǎ) is a Chinese character meaning “few, widow.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 宀 (structural), 頁 (structural) and 刀 (structural). It ranks #2212 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. few, widow

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
寡妇nounguǎ fuwidow
优柔寡断phraseyōu róu guǎ duànindecisive
沉默寡言phrasechén mò guǎ yánhabitually silent (idiom)
寡人pronounguǎ rénI (first person pronoun used by royalty or nobility)
守寡verbshǒu guǎto live as widow
孤陋寡闻phrasegū lòu guǎ wénignorant and inexperienced
寡不敌众phraseguǎ bù dí zhòngthe few are no match for the many
寡言adjectiveguǎ yántaciturn
寡头nounguǎ tóuoligarch
寡居verbguǎ jūto live as a widow
清心寡欲phraseqīng xīn guǎ yù(idiom) uninterested in self-indulgence
曲高和寡phraseqǔ gāo hè guǎdifficult songs find few singers (idiom)
鳏寡孤独phraseguān guǎ gū dú(lit.) widowers, widows, orphans and the childless (idiom)
得道多助,失道寡助dé dào duō zhù , shī dào guǎ zhùA just cause attracts much support, an unjust one finds little (idiom, from Mencius)
寡头政治nounguǎ tóu zhèng zhìoligarchy
43
Total compounds
33
As first character
19
As last character
49
As middle character

寡 appears in 43 compound words: 33 as the first character, 19 as the last, and 49 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 寡 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

妇fù
0.5822,240 co-occurrences
默mò
0.5472,478 co-occurrences
沉chén
0.5362,352 co-occurrences
柔róu
0.509971 co-occurrences
孤gū
0.5001,025 co-occurrences
言yán
0.4693,564 co-occurrences
敌dí
0.464818 co-occurrences
嫂sǎo
0.447156 co-occurrences
郁yù
0.446314 co-occurrences
昧mèi
0.44040 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (21)

沉默寡言chénmòguǎyánHSK 7+

taciturn; reticent; to be of few words

phrase
敌众我寡dízhòngwǒguǎHSK 7+

to be outnumbered by one's enemy

phrase
孤陋寡闻gūlòuguǎwénHSK 7+

ignorant and ill-informed

phrase
孤男寡女gūnánguǎnǚHSK 7+

a man and a woman are alone in the same place

phrase
寡不敌众guǎbùdízhòngHSK 7+

to be hopelessly outnumbered; to fight against hopeless odds

phrase
寡二少双guǎ èr shǎo shuāngHSK 7+

peerless; second to none (idiom)

phrase
寡头政治guǎtóu zhèngzhìHSK 7+

oligarchy

noun
刻薄寡恩kè bó guǎ ēnHSK 7+

harsh and merciless (idiom)

phrase
落落寡合luò luò guǎ héHSK 7+

aloof; standoffish; unsociable

phrase
落落寡欢luò luò guǎ huānHSK 7+

melancholy; unhappy

phrase
清汤寡水qīngtāngguǎshuǐHSK 7+

watery and tasteless

phrase
清心寡欲qīngxīnguǎyùHSK 7+

to cleanse one's mind of distracting thoughts and limit one's worldly desires

phrase

Showing 12 of 21 idioms containing 寡.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个产品的市场份额很少,需要加大推广力度。

Zhè gè chǎnpǐn de shìchǎng fèn'é hěn shǎo, xūyào jiādà tuīguǎng lìdù.

This product has a small market share and needs increased promotion efforts.

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

贵州高海拔、低纬度、寡日照、云雾多,这些自然条件叠加在一起,恰是适宜茶树生长的环境。

guì zhōu gāo hǎi bá , dī wěi dù , guǎ rì zhào , yún wù duō , zhè xiē zì rán tiáo jiàn dié jiā zài yī qǐ , qià shì shì yí chá shù shēng cháng de huán jìng .

Guizhou’s high altitude, low latitude, limited sunshine, and frequent clouds and fog—when these natural conditions combine—create an environment that is ideal for tea plant growth.

WorldjournalApr 2026

“预言”梅兰妮亚有“寡妇”般的光彩...他挨轰要求道歉

yù yán méi lán 妮 yà yǒu guǎ fù bān de guāng cǎi . . . tā āi hōng yāo qiú dào qiàn

"Prediction" that Melania has the "aura of a widow"... He came under fire and was asked to apologize

東方日報Mar 2026

龙七公:美国失道寡助 伊朗底气十足

lóng qī gōng : měi guó shī dào guǎ zhù yī lǎng de qì shí zú

Long Qigong: The U.S. Has Lost the Moral High Ground and Has Few Allies, While Iran Is Full of Confidence

Hk01.comFeb 2026

5星座爱搞暧昧把你当备胎 天秤优柔寡断 这星座关心超朋友界限

5 xīng zuò ài gǎo ài mèi bǎ nǐ dāng bèi tāi tiān chēng yōu róu guǎ duàn zhè xīng zuò guān xīn chāo péng yǒu jiè xiàn

5 zodiac signs love to be ambiguous and treat you as a spare tire, Libra is indecisive, this zodiac sign cares about the boundaries of super friends

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

青壯陣亡、人口外逃 烏克蘭淪「孤兒寡母之國」

qīng 壯 陣 wáng rén kǒu wài táo 烏 kè 蘭 淪 gū 兒 guǎ mǔ zhī 國

Young and able-bodied men killed, population fleeing: Ukraine becomes a "country of orphans and widows."

Tatoeba

寡妇为她的丈夫哀悼了很久。

Guǎfu wèi tā de zhàngfu āidào le hěn jiǔ.

The widow mourned her husband for a long time.

Tatoeba

汤姆是个寡欲的人。

Tāngmǔ shì ge guǎyù de rén.

Tom is a man of few wants.

Tatoeba

林肯本人是沉默寡言的。

Línkěn běnrén shì chénmò-guǎyán de.

Lincoln himself was silent.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced guǎ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 寡 (guǎ) mean in Chinese?
寡 (guǎ) primarily means "few, widow." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2212 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 寡 have?
寡 is written with 14 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 寡?
The radical associated with 寡 is 宀 (roof). This radical appears in many characters related to roof.
What are the components of 寡?
寡 is composed of: 宀 (structural), 頁 (structural), 刀 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱宀⿱頁刀 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 寡?
Common words with 寡 include: 寡妇 (guǎ fu, "widow"); 优柔寡断 (yōu róu guǎ duàn, "indecisive"); 沉默寡言 (chén mò guǎ yán, "habitually silent (idiom)"); 寡人 (guǎ rén, "I (first person pronoun used by royalty or nobility)"); 守寡 (shǒu guǎ, "to live as widow"). There are over 43 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 寡 (guǎ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation guǎ: 挂 (to hang), 瓜 (melon), 刮 (to scrape), 卦 (divinatory diagram). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 寡 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 寡 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 寡 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.