锣

鑼
luó
noun #16,209

Measure Word

一面锣 miàn

Meanings

  1. 1 gong

Characters

Examples

HSK 4
Tā qiāo le yíxià luó, bǐsài jiù kāishǐ le.
He struck the gong and the competition began.
HSK 7-9
Wǔshī de shíhou yào qiāoluó-dǎgǔ.
When performing the lion dance, you beat gongs and drums.

Tips

culture
锣鼓 (gongs and drums) are essential instruments in Chinese festivals, opera, and lion/dragon dances. The phrase 敲锣打鼓 means to celebrate with great fanfare.

Components

radical
钅 jīn
metal (radical form of 金)
Side-metal radical on the left - compressed five-stroke form of 金. Indexes 锣 in the metal-object family with 锅, 锤, 锯, 钢. 锣 names the bronze gong - a flat circular plate struck with a padded mallet at festivals and operas - so the metal radical names the booming substance.
phonetic
罗 luó
to gather; net; surname Luo
Right side 罗 supplies the sound luó exactly. 罗 (a bird-net over silk, simplified from 羅) contributes no semantic flavour to 'gong'; it is a pure phonetic loan. The same phonetic appears in 萝 (radish), 啰 (chatter), 箩 (bamboo basket) - a tight luó family clustered around this convenient sound peg.

Stroke Order

锣 luó