谷 (gǔ) — valley
Definition
Here 谷 (gǔ) is a bound literary form meaning 'valley' (as in 山谷). As a standalone modern word, 谷 means 'grain/cereal'; the valley sense only appears in compounds.
bound form
valley
Easily confused
- 俗súlook-alikepopular, common (often with a negative connotation)
- 古gǔsound-alikeancient; old (from the distant past)
- 股gǔsound-alike(classifier) for long winding things (rope, river, strand)
- 鼓gǔsound-alike(noun) drum
- 贾gǔsound-alike(noun) surname (but see description — pinyin mismatch)
- 蛊gǔsound-alike(bound form) legendary venomous insect used in witchcraft
Examples
- Zhè ge shān gǔ hěn shēnThis valley is very deep.
- Tā men yán zhe shān gǔ biān zǒu le hěn jiǔThey walked along the edge of the valley for a long time.
- ，Qiū tiān de shí hou, zhěng gè shān gǔ biàn chéng le jīn sèIn autumn, the whole valley turns golden.
Origin
Pictograph六书liùshū
象形xiàngxíngA drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.
The shape of 谷 comes from a picture of a valley: an opening between two near-parallel lines for mountain walls.
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