溝
gōu HSK5

ditch, ravine

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 冓 represents the sound.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

冓
冓 Sound component
gòu, gōu a secluded place

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkuw[k]ˤ(r)o irrigation canal

說文解字

《說文》:“溝,水瀆,廣四尺,深四尺。从水,冓聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

沟 gōu ditch, ravine Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 氵 represents the meaning and 勾 represents the sound. Simplified form of 溝.

Components

氵
氵 Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

氵 is a component form of 水.

勾
勾 Sound component
gōu hook

勾 is a component form of 句.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode