钩 (gōu) is a Chinese character meaning “hook”. It is written from 钅 (metal radical (left-side form of 金)) and 勾 (hook; to hook, to tick off), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “hook”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
钅 + 勾
Left–right structure
Structure from: Unicode U+94A9, Unicode Kangxi radical 167 (金/简化左旁 钅), and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 0–4 form 钅; strokes 5–8 form 勾)
Memory aid
Metal (钅) on the left, 勾 on the right. 勾 already means "to hook" and gives the sound gōu — so this is the hook you can hold: a metal one.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 鱼钩yú gōufishhook钩 = gōu
- 钩子gōu zihook钩 = gōu
Go deeper
All readings
hook
hook; to hook; to hang on a hook
一端弯曲、能挂住东西的器具；也指用钩挂住、钩取。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 鱼钩yú gōufishhook钩 = gōu
- 钩子gōu zihook钩 = gōu
Sound component
勾 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 钩 mean?
钩 (gōu) means hook; to hook; to hang on a hook.
How do you pronounce 钩?
It is pronounced gōu.
What parts is 钩 made of?
钅 (metal radical (left-side form of 金)) and 勾 (hook; to hook, to tick off), side by side. The recorded source is: Unicode U+94A9, Unicode Kangxi radical 167 (金/简化左旁 钅), and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 0–4 form 钅; strokes 5–8 form 勾). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 钩 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 钩?
钅. 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 钩?
Common ones are 鱼钩 and 钩子. The reading of 钩 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.