股 (gǔ) · stock; share (finance)

Meanings

1 stock; share (finance)
2 thigh; buttocks
3 measure word for a strand, stream, or puff

Characters

股

gǔ

share; stock; thigh

Examples

HSK 2

他买了一些股票。

Tā mǎi le yìxiē gǔpiào.

He bought some stocks.

HSK 4

空气中有一股奇怪的味道。

Kōngqì zhōng yǒu yī gǔ qíguài de wèidào.

There's a strange smell in the air.

HSK 6

他持有公司百分之十的股份。

Tā chíyǒu gōngsī bǎifēnzhīshí de gǔfèn.

He holds a 10% share in the company.

Tips

usage

As a measure word, 股 is used for: streams of air/water (一股水), puffs of smell (一股味道), strands of rope (一股绳子), bursts of force/energy (一股力量). In finance: 股票 (stocks), 股份 (shares), 股市 (stock market).

Components

radical

⺼ ròu

flesh (radical form)

Left flesh radical - the indexing component (the 月-shaped form of 肉, distinct from 月 'moon' despite identical print shape). Marks the original sense of 股 as 'thigh, hip' - a body part. The 'share, strand, puff' meanings extend metaphorically: a thigh = one of a pair, hence one division of a whole. Same flesh radical anchors 肝 (liver), 肠 (intestine), 脚 (foot), 膀 (shoulder).

phonetic

殳 shū

lance; bamboo staff

Right 殳 supplies the sound - historically gǔ matched 殳's labial onset in Old Chinese, drifted in modern Mandarin. The same phonetic appears in 投 (throw), 段 (section), 殴 (beat). In 股 it serves mainly as phonetic carrier; the body-part meaning sits with the flesh radical on the left.