哭 (kū) · to cry, to weep

Meanings

1 to cry
2 to weep

Characters

哭

kū

to cry; to weep

Examples

HSK 2

别哭了。

Bié kū le.

Don't cry.

HSK 2

那个电影让我想哭。

Nàge diànyǐng ràngwǒ xiǎng kū.

That movie made me want to cry.

HSK 4

她哭了一整天。

Tā kū le yìzhěngtiān.

She cried the whole day.

Tips

memory

The character 哭 looks like two eyes (the two 口-like shapes on top) with tears streaming down.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Top-left 口 is one of two mouth-shapes paired across the top of 哭 - together they picture a face wailing with its eyes squeezed shut. Indexing radical (registered under 口 in the dictionary) and direct meaning-cue: crying is a mouth-action. Same family as 叫 (shout), 喊 (yell), 啼 (weep).

semantic

口 kǒu

mouth

Top-right 口 mirrors the left mouth - the doubled 口 reads as 'two open mouths/eyes wailing'. The standard modern mnemonic is to see the pair as eyes squeezed shut with tears streaming down, with 犬 below as the body. The doubled top is the visual core of 哭.

semantic

犬 quǎn

dog

Bottom 犬 depicts a dog. The original 哭 may have pictured a dog howling with two yelps above - the source of the 'wail' meaning. Modern teaching reads 犬 as the crying figure's body and the two 口 above as tearful eyes, but the dog-howl etymology is the historical anchor.