宫 meaning and stroke order
Palace; temple; castration (as corporal punishment)
How to write 宫, stroke by stroke
9 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
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- 7
- 8
- 9
Meaning of 宫
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- palace
- temple
- castration (as corporal punishment)
- first note in pentatonic scale
How 宫 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Roof.
宀 gives the meaning and 吕 hints at the sound.
Radical: 宀 (roof), shared by 67 characters on this site.
How to remember 宫
宫 has a roof 宀 on top and 吕 (lǚ) underneath, which looks like two rooms stacked one behind the other. A roof covering room after room is a palace.
宫 (gōng) rarely stands alone in speech. It mostly appears in words like 宫殿 (gōngdiàn, palace), 皇宫 (huánggōng, imperial palace), and 迷宫 (mígōng, maze). Example: 我们参观了故宫。(Wǒmen cānguānle Gùgōng.) We visited the Forbidden City.
Common mistake: Learners often write the bottom as two separate 口 with a gap, or confuse 宫 with 官 (guān, official), which has a different shape under the roof. Also keep the first tone: gōng, not gòng.
Common words with 宫
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 宫殿 | gōngdiàn | palace | HSK 7-9 |
| 皇宫 | huánggōng | imperial palace | HSK 7-9 |
| 宫廷 | gōngtíng | court (of king or emperor) | HSK 7-9 |
| 迷宫 | mígōng | maze; labyrinth | |
| 子宫 | zǐgōng | uterus; womb | |
| 王宫 | wánggōng | imperial palace | |
| 十二宫 | shí'èrgōng | the twelve equatorial constellations or signs of the zodiac in Western astronomy and astro | |
| 进宫 | jìngōng | to enter the emperor's palace; (slang) to go to jail | |
| 后宫 | hòugōng | harem; chambers of imperial concubines | |
| 宫女 | gōngnǚ | palace maid |
宫 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 宫
How many strokes are in 宫?
宫 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 宫 mean?
宫 (gōng) means palace; temple; castration (as corporal punishment). A common word with it is 宫殿 (gōngdiàn), meaning "palace".
How do you pronounce 宫?
宫 is pronounced gōng, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 宫?
The radical of 宫 is 宀, which carries the idea of "roof". Dictionaries list 宫 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 宫?
The traditional form of 宫 is 宮. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 宫 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 宫 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 宫 is part of the HSK 6 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 子宫 mean womb if 宫 means palace?
In 子宫 (zǐgōng), 宫 keeps its sense of an enclosed chamber. 子 means child, so the word is literally the child's chamber.
What does 进宫 mean in modern slang?
Literally 进宫 (jìngōng) means to enter the emperor's palace. In casual modern speech it is a joking way to say someone went to jail, and 二进宫 means going back a second time.