够 (gòu) · enough, sufficient

Meanings

1 enough
2 sufficient

Characters

够

gòu

enough; sufficient

Examples

HSK 1

钱够不够？

Qián gòu bu gòu?

Is the money enough?

HSK 1

我吃够了。

Wǒ chī gòu le.

I've eaten enough.

HSK 2

够了，别再说了。

Gòu le, bié zài shuō le.

Enough, stop talking about it.

Tips

grammar

够 can come before or after the thing it describes. Before: 够大 (big enough). After a verb: 吃够了 (eaten enough).

usage

够了! on its own means 'Enough!' and is used to express frustration or to tell someone to stop.

Components

phonetic

句 jù

phrase; hooked

Left 句 supplies the sound: jù shifts to gòu through velar drift typical for 句-phonetic chars. Pure sound borrowing - the 'phrase / hooked' meaning plays no role. Same series: 购, 构, 沟. Indexed under Kangxi #36 夕 (xī, evening); the radical isn't visibly present in either component.

semantic

多 duō

many; much

Right 多 (many) is the meaning core. 够 means 'enough, sufficient' - directly reading 'many enough.' This is an unusual right-side semantic position; most chars place semantic on the left. Same idea anchors the modern sense '够多了 (more than enough).'

Filed under radical 夕 (xī, #36) by convention. 夕 is not a separate component in 够, so no strokes are highlighted.