郭 (Guō) · Guo (surname), outer city wall

Meanings

1 Guo (surname)
2 outer city wall

Characters

郭

guō

outer city wall; surname

Examples

HSK 2

我们班有三个姓郭的同学。

Wǒmen bān yǒu sān gè xìng Guō de tóngxué.

There are three students with the surname Guo in our class.

HSK 7-9

郭是中国最常见的姓氏之一。

Guō shì Zhōngguó zuì chángjiàn de xìngshì zhīyī.

Guo is one of the most common surnames in China.

Tips

history

The character 郭 originally meant the outer wall of a city (城郭). As a surname, it ranks among the top 20 in China with over 15 million bearers.

Components

radical

阝 yì

city (right-side form of 邑)

Right city radical - the side-form of 邑 used only on the right of a character. The indexing radical, marking 郭 as a place/settlement word. Anchors the entry in the city/region family with 都 (capital), 部 (division), 郊 (outskirts), 邦 (nation). The whole reads as 'wall + city' = outer city rampart.

phonetic

享 xiǎng

enjoy; sacrificial offering

Left 享 is a graphic stand-in for the original phonetic - a stylized depiction of a walled tower viewed from outside. Originally 郭 depicted the outer rampart with watchtowers at its corners; the modern form preserves that tower-shape on the left. Supplies both the sound and the city-wall imagery.