孤 (gū) is a Chinese character meaning “alone”. It is written from 子 (child; son) and 瓜 (melon; gourd (a vine with fruit hanging from it)), side by side, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “alone”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
子 + 瓜
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字·子部：孤，無父也。从子瓜聲
Memory aid
A child (子) sitting by a single melon (瓜) on the vine — one child, one melon, nobody else. That is 孤: alone.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 孤单gū dānlonely; alone孤 = gū
- 孤立gū lìisolated; cut off from others孤 = gū
Go deeper
All readings
alone; solitary
alone; solitary; isolated; fatherless, orphaned
幼年丧父；单独一个，没有依靠。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 孤单gū dānlonely; alone孤 = gū
- 孤立gū lìisolated; cut off from others孤 = gū
Sound component
瓜 family rime near
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 孤 mean?
孤 (gū) means alone; solitary; isolated; fatherless, orphaned.
How do you pronounce 孤?
It is pronounced gū.
What parts is 孤 made of?
子 (child; son) and 瓜 (melon; gourd (a vine with fruit hanging from it)), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字·子部：孤，無父也。从子瓜聲. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 孤 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 孤?
子. 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 孤?
Common ones are 孤单 and 孤立. The reading of 孤 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.