苟 (gǒu) is a Chinese character meaning “careless”. It is written from 艹 (grass / plant radical) and 句 (sentence; phrase), one above the other, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “careless; perfunctory”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
艹 + 句
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: 说文解字（苟：艸也。从艸句聲）
Memory aid
Weeds (艹) left to sprawl over your sentences (句). Writing you let grow wild is exactly 苟 — careless, slapdash work.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 一丝不苟yī sī bù gǒumeticulous; not the slightest bit careless苟 = gǒuspoken asyì sī bù gǒu
- 苟且gǒu qiěperfunctory; to muddle along; to do something carelessly苟 = gǒuspoken asgóu qiě
Go deeper
All readings
careless
careless; perfunctory; (literary) if; provided that
随便、马虎、只图眼前；文言中也表示「如果、假使」。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 一丝不苟yī sī bù gǒumeticulous; not the slightest bit careless苟 = gǒuspoken asyì sī bù gǒu
- 苟且gǒu qiěperfunctory; to muddle along; to do something carelessly苟 = gǒuspoken asgóu qiě
Sound component
句 family diverged
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 苟 mean?
苟 (gǒu) means careless; perfunctory; (literary) if; provided that.
How do you pronounce 苟?
It is pronounced gǒu.
What parts is 苟 made of?
艹 (grass / plant radical) and 句 (sentence; phrase), one above the other. The recorded source is: 说文解字（苟：艸也。从艸句聲）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 苟 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 苟?
艸. 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 苟?
Common ones are 一丝不苟 and 苟且. The reading of 苟 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.