冓

gòu
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 interlocking timber framework; inner rooms of a palace (archaic)

Examples

HSK 6
Zhèxiē mù jiàn jiāocuò chéng yí gè jiégòu.
These wooden parts interlock to form a structure.

Tips

history
Never used independently in modern Chinese. Its whole importance is as a phonetic root: it builds 构 (to construct), 沟 (ditch), 购 (to buy), 讲 (to speak) and 媾 - the gòu / gōu / jiǎng family.
memory
It pictures crossed logs interlocking, like a 井-frame stacked up. That 'pieces fitting together' image is exactly what its descendant 构 still means - to build a structure.

Components

ideograph
井 jǐng
well-frame; crossed timbers
The top half is a 井-like lattice of crossed beams - half of the picture of timbers locking together that gives 冓 its 'interlock / construct' idea.
ideograph
再 zài
again; doubled (lower frame)
The lower half mirrors the upper lattice, doubling the crossed-timber image. The two stacked frames together depict an interlocking wooden structure - the core sense behind 构.

Filed under radical 冂 (jiōng, #13) by convention. 冂 is not a separate component in 冓, so no strokes are highlighted.

Stroke Order

冓 gòu