購 meaning and stroke order
To buy, to purchase
How to write 購, stroke by stroke
17 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 購
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to buy
- to purchase
How 購 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Money.
貝 gives the meaning and 冓 hints at the sound.
Radical: 貝 (sea shell), shared by 62 characters on this site.
How to remember 購
購 is built from 貝 (shell, an old symbol of money) on the left and 冓 (gòu) on the right, which gives the sound. Think of it as paying shells, meaning money, to buy something, and let 冓 remind you it is read gòu.
購 is rarely used alone in speech and usually appears in compounds like 購買 (gòumǎi, to purchase) and 購物 (gòuwù, shopping). It sounds more formal than 買 (mǎi) and shows up in business words such as 採購 (cǎigòu, to procure) and 併購 (bìnggòu, mergers and acquisitions). Example: 我週末去購物中心。(Wǒ zhōumò qù gòuwù zhōngxīn.) I go to the shopping center on the weekend.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 購 with 構 (gòu, to construct) and 溝 (gōu, ditch), which share the same right side 冓. Remember that only the money radical 貝 means buying, and note that 溝 takes first tone, not fourth.
Common words with 購
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 購買 | gòumǎi | to purchase; to buy | HSK 4 |
| 購物 | gòuwù | shopping | HSK 4 |
| 收購 | shōugòu | to purchase or acquire in bulk or at an official level (esp. by a state or organization); | HSK 5 |
| 採購 | cǎigòu | to procure (for an enterprise etc); to purchase | HSK 5 |
| 訂購 | dìnggòu | to place an order; to subscribe | HSK 7-9 |
| 併購 | bìnggòu | merger and acquisition (M and A); acquisition | HSK 7-9 |
| 購物中心 | gòuwùzhōngxīn | shopping center |
Questions about 購
How many strokes are in 購?
購 is written with 17 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 購 mean?
購 (gòu) means to buy, to purchase. A common word with it is 购买 (gòumǎi), meaning "to purchase; to buy".
How do you pronounce 購?
購 is pronounced gòu, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 購?
The radical of 購 is 貝, which carries the idea of "sea shell". Dictionaries list 購 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 購?
購 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 购, used in mainland China and Singapore.
What is the difference between 購 (gòu) and 買 (mǎi)?
Both mean to buy, but 買 is the everyday spoken word, as in 買菜 (mǎi cài, buy groceries). 購 is more formal and mostly appears in compounds like 購買 or in written notices and business contexts.
How is 購 written in simplified Chinese?
In simplified Chinese it is written 购, with 贝 on the left and 勾 on the right. The common words you see in mainland China, such as 购买 and 购物, use this simplified form.