gāo
noun #34,529

Meanings

  1. 1 testicle (Taiwan/traditional variant of 睾, in compounds e.g. 睪丸)
  2. 2 to spy out; to inspect from a distance (read yì, literary, archaic)

Examples

HSK 7-9
Gāo wán shì nánxìng shēngzhí qìguān.
The testicle is a male reproductive organ.
HSK 7-9
Yīshēng jiǎnchá le tā de gāo wán.
The doctor examined his testicle.

Tips

usage
(gāo) is the Taiwan/traditional spelling for (gāo, 'testicle'). On the mainland the lower variant is standard, so 睪丸 vs. 睾丸 is the same word in different scripts. Don't confuse with the very rare archaic reading (yì), 'to spy out from a height', found only in classical texts.
mistakes
The character looks similar to (gāo, 'high ground / shore') and - three near-identical glyphs. The 'testicle' meaning is always written (mainland) or (Taiwan); is a totally different character meaning 'marshland edge'.

Components

semantic
wǎng
eye (flattened form)
is the flattened-top form of (eye) and carries the "watching" sense - read yì originally meant to spy on or inspect from a height. The eye-on-top motif also appears in .
semantic
xìng
fortunate; shackles graph
here is not "lucky" - it stands in for an old shackle/handcuff graph showing a captive being watched. The modern shape was assimilated to over centuries. In the anatomical reading, the eye-over-shackle visual is purely accidental.

Filed under radical (mù, #109) by convention. is not a separate component in , so no strokes are highlighted.

Stroke Order

gāo