Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

孤: orphan, alone

JLPT N19 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

子 carries the meaning · 瓜 gives the sound

9 strokes
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

One reading, and the words that use it

コko · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 孤児こじorphan
  • 孤立こりつisolation; being alone; being friendless
  • 孤独こどくsolitude; loneliness; isolation
  • 孤児院こじいんorphanage
  • 孤島ことうsolitary island; isolated island
  • 孤高ここうaloof; proudly independent; standing apart

Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)子 child (meaning) + 瓜 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 孤 (rev. 92488004), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Child (子) + melon (瓜). Imagine a "child" who is as small and "isolated" as a single "melon" left alone in a vast field—the symbol of being an orphan.”
From the 子 child story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
子

Also built on child (子)

All 12
瓜

Also built on 瓜

孤 takes the 瓜 family's reading, コ (ko).

Also read コ

27 kanji share this on'yomiAll 27

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
孤 orphan · 子
vs弧 arc · 弓
孤 has 子 where 弧 has 弓.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · gū

Same form: 孤 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
孤 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
孤 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin gū most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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