姑 (gū) is a Chinese character meaning “father’s sister”. It is written from 女 (woman; female) and 古 (old; ancient), side by side, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “aunt; girl”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
女 + 古
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字：姑，夫母也。从女，古聲
Memory aid
The left half, 女 (woman), tells you this character is about a woman in the family. The right half, 古 (gǔ, ancient), is not about age here — it is carrying the sound: gǔ → gū. Both parts are really in the character; only their jobs differ.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 姑娘gū niánggirl; young woman姑 = gūspoken asgū niang
- 姑姑gū gūpaternal aunt (father’s sister)姑 = gūspoken asgū gu
- 尼姑ní gūBuddhist nun姑 = gū
- 尼姑庵ní gū ānBuddhist nunnery姑 = gū
Go deeper
All readings
aunt; girl
father’s sister; aunt; also the morpheme in 姑娘 (girl, young woman)
父亲的姐妹；也用在「姑娘」里，指年轻女子。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 姑娘gū niánggirl; young woman姑 = gūspoken asgū niang
- 姑姑gū gūpaternal aunt (father’s sister)姑 = gūspoken asgū gu
- 尼姑ní gūBuddhist nun姑 = gū
- 尼姑庵ní gū ānBuddhist nunnery姑 = gū
Sound component
古 family tone diff
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 姑 mean?
姑 (gū) means father’s sister; aunt; also the morpheme in 姑娘 (girl, young woman).
How do you pronounce 姑?
It is pronounced gū.
What parts is 姑 made of?
女 (woman; female) and 古 (old; ancient), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字：姑，夫母也。从女，古聲. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 姑 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 姑?
女. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 姑?
Common ones are 姑娘 and 姑姑. The reading of 姑 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.