杠 meaning and stroke order
Pole, bar; lever, crowbar
How to write 杠, stroke by stroke
7 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
- 6
- 7
Meaning of 杠
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- flagpole
- footbridge
- (old) coffin-bearing pole
- thick pole; bar; rod
- bold line; thick stroke
- to mark with a thick line
- to sharpen (a knife, razor etc)
- (slang) to argue; to be deliberately argumentative
How 杠 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A wooden 木 lever 工; 工 also provides the pronunciation.
Radical: 木 (tree), shared by 388 characters on this site.
How to remember 杠
杠 combines wood 木 with 工 (gōng), so picture a worker using a wooden bar as a tool to pry something up. 工 also hints at the sound, since gōng and gāng are close.
Most everyday words use the fourth tone gàng, as in 杠铃 (gànglíng) barbell, 杠杆 (gànggǎn) lever, and 保险杠 (bǎoxiǎngàng) car bumper. In slang, 杠 means to argue just for the sake of arguing. Example: 你别跟我杠了。(Nǐ bié gēn wǒ gàng le.) Stop arguing with me.
Common mistake: Learners often read 杠 as gāng in every word because that is the listed pinyin, but common words like 杠铃 and 杠杆 use gàng. Also do not confuse it with 扛 (káng, to carry on the shoulder), which has the hand radical 扌 instead of 木.
Common words with 杠
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 杠铃 | gànglíng | barbell | HSK 7-9 |
| 杠杆 | gànggǎn | lever; pry bar | |
| 保险杠 | bǎoxiǎngàng | car bumper |
杠 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 杠
How many strokes are in 杠?
杠 is written with 7 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 杠 mean?
杠 (gāng) means pole, bar; lever, crowbar. A common word with it is 杠铃 (gànglíng), meaning "barbell".
How do you pronounce 杠?
杠 is pronounced gāng, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 杠?
The radical of 杠 is 木, which carries the idea of "tree". Dictionaries list 杠 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 杠?
The traditional form of 杠 is 槓. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 杠 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 杠 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 杠 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What does 抬杠 mean?
抬杠 (táigàng) means to argue for the sake of arguing or to bicker. A person who always does this is jokingly called 杠精 (gàngjīng).
How is 杠 used to describe a line or mark?
杠 can mean a thick line or stroke, and as a verb it means to cross something out with a line. For example, 在错字上画一道杠 (zài cuòzì shàng huà yí dào gàng) means draw a line through the wrong character.