咕咕 (gū gū) — (onomatopoeia) sound of a dove cooing; sound of… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Onomatopoeia for the soft, repeated sound a pigeon/dove makes ('coo') or a hen makes ('cluck'). It's reduplicated — 咕 on its own isn't used alone.

onomatopoeia

sound of a dove cooingsound of a chicken clucking

Examples

咕咕。
Gē zi zài shù shàng gū gū dì jiào.
The pigeons are cooing in the tree.
咕咕。
Wǒ tīng jiàn yuǎn chù chuán lái gū gū de shēng yīn.
I heard the sound of cooing coming from afar.
咕咕。
Jī zài yuàn zi lǐ gū gū dì zhǎo shí chī.
The chickens are clucking around the yard looking for food.

Origin

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

拟声nǐshēngOnomatopoeia

The characters imitate a sound; their individual meanings play no part.

咕咕 imitates the repeated cooing or clucking sound; the characters carry no independent meaning.

Sound-only characters

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

口古咕

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

古

古gǔ咕gū

Same sound today

咕 combines 口 (mouth) with 古, which provides the sound. The 口 part points to mouth sounds, such as clucking or cooing.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

口古咕

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

古

古gǔ咕gū

Same sound today

咕 combines 口 (mouth) with 古, which provides the sound. The 口 part points to mouth sounds, such as clucking or cooing.

Appears in

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