凑 (còu): to gather together

Meanings

1 to gather together
2 to collect
3 to piece together
4 to move close to

Characters

凑

còu

to gather; to piece together

Examples

我们凑了一些钱帮他。

Wǒmen còu le yīxiē qián bāng tā.

We pooled some money together to help him.

他凑过来看我的手机。

Tā còu guòlái kàn wǒ de shǒujī.

He leaned over to look at my phone.

正好凑够了十个人。

Zhènghǎo còu gòu le shí gerén.

We happened to gather exactly ten people.

Tips

usage

凑 has two main uses: (1) to gather/collect things together (凑钱 = pool money), and (2) to move closer physically (凑过来 = come closer). Context determines the meaning.

memory

Think of 凑 as 'crowding together' — whether it's people, money, or objects being brought into one place.

Components

radical

冫 bīng

ice (radical)

Left radical 冫 — two short strokes representing slivers of ice. Originally 凑 was written with 氵 (water) on the left; the modern simplified shape uses 冫 instead, picturing chunks of ice drifting and bumping together. Same radical anchors the cold-water family 冷 (cold), 冰 (ice), 冻 (freeze), 净 (clean).

phonetic

奏 zòu

to present; offer up (phonetic)

Right phonetic 奏 supplies the full sound (zòu → còu, just an initial shift). 奏 originally meant 'to bring forward, to present (a memorial)', a sense that bleeds nicely into 凑: bringing things together, drawing close. Same phonetic appears in 揍 (to beat) — the next character on this list.