钢

鋼
gāng
noun #8,430

Meanings

  1. 1 steel

Examples

HSK 4
Tā cóng wǔ suì kāishǐ xué gāngqín.
She started learning the piano at the age of five.
HSK 4
Yéye yìzhí yòng gāngbǐ xiě rìjì.
Grandpa has always written his diary with a fountain pen.
HSK 6
Zhè bǎ yǐzi shì gāng zuò de, fēicháng jiēshi.
This chair is made of steel and is very sturdy.

Tips

memory
钅(metal) + 冈 (ridge) - 钢琴 literally means 'steel instrument'

Components

radical
钅 jīn
metal; gold
钅 is the left-side simplified metal radical (金 in standalone form). It indexes 钢 in the metals-and-alloys family alongside 银 (silver), 铜 (copper), 铁 (iron), 铝 (aluminium). The radical signals: this is a smelted material, not a raw element.
phonetic
冈 gāng
ridge; hill
冈 (gāng) on the right supplies the sound exactly - same initial, same rime, same tone. Same phonetic powers 刚 (just-now / hard), 纲 (main rope), 岗 (post). The faint flavour of hardness from the 刚-family aligns nicely with 钢 (steel) - the hardest of common metals.

Stroke Order

钢 gāng