口

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Han character

See images of
Radical 30 口

口 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 口 (R), four-corner 6000₀, composition ⿱冂一)

1. Kangxi radical #30, ⼝.
2. Shuowen Jiezi radical №22

Usage notes

This character (口) is used within characters. If a square is used as an enclosure around another character, then the character 囗 (U+56D7) is used instead.

This radical is sometimes added to characters to indicate that a certain character is onomatopoeic, e.g. 咚 (dōng) and 啪 (pā), or is phonetic, e.g. 咖啡 (kāfēi) and 喇嘛 (lǎma).

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese radical/口
• 㐰, 加, 吅, 𫭙, 如, 𪪺, 扣, 𬇖, 𨑕, 𪱳, 𣬣, 𤘘, 知, 𬖏, 𫃜, 𦒵, 𦔻, 𧥣(𬣚), 𧺚, 釦(𬬪), 卟, 𨙫, 鳴(鸣), 𪚩
• 兄, 𢗀, 𣬦, 肙, 足, 𭯶, 𤆗, 邑, 𭺲, 𤿌, 𡶸, 黾, 虽, 𧘗, 𨈗
• 占, 夻, 𡥄, 𢀛, 舌, 𦬅, 𣅊, 杏, 𣬧, 𬉸, 𭶻, 言, 𬽅, 𧮫, 谷, 𠔌, 𣄮, 𬔭, 𠭀, 𨈖, 軎, 害, 兽, 噕, 轡(辔), 石, 𡰪, 𢇞, 𫊝, 倉, 𫸧, 戓, 耉, 冋, 问, 冏, 局, 尚, 回, 中

Further reading

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 171, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3227
• Dae Jaweon: page 379, character 17
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 566, character 14
• Unihan data for U+53E3

Chinese

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 口 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 口 (Cantonese)

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 口
Shang		Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) – resembles an open mouth.

In the oracle bone script, radical 口 is used for characters having abstract meanings. Such a character can have a figurative meaning derived from the phonetic part, e.g. 右 (OC *ɢʷɯʔ, *ɢʷɯs, “right”) = 又 (OC *ɢʷɯs, “right hand”) + 口 and 𪪺 (“strong; powerful”) = 弓 (OC *kʷɯŋ, “bow”) + 口, or be an unrelated borrowing, e.g. 否 (OC *brɯʔ, *pɯʔ, “no”) = 不 (OC *pɯ, *pɯʔ, *pɯ', “calyx”) + 口.

Etymology 1

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ku(w) (“mouth”). Cognate with Garo ku·sik (“mouth”), Tangut 𗋈 (*ŋwu², “mouth”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

口

1. (anatomy) mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)

   See also: 嘴, 口腔

   漱漱你的口。  ―  Shù shù nǐ de kǒu.  ―  Rinse your mouth out.

   這話出自你的口，聽來令人奇怪。 [MSC, trad.]
   这话出自你的口，听来令人奇怪。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhè huà chūzì nǐ de kǒu, tīnglái lìngrén qíguài.

   This sounds strange in your mouth.

2. entrance; opening; mouth (of an object)

   入口  ―  rùkǒu  ―  entrance

   出口  ―  chūkǒu  ―  exit

   門口／门口  ―  ménkǒu  ―  doorway

3. gateway

   張家口／张家口  ―  Zhāngjiākǒu  ―  Zhangjiakou

   口北  ―  Kǒuběi  ―  the area beyond the Great Wall

   口蘑  ―  kǒumó  ―  St. George's mushroom (Calocybe gambosa)

4. hole; cut

   口子  ―  kǒuzi  ―  hole

   傷口／伤口  ―  shāngkǒu  ―  wound

5. port

   電腦端口／电脑端口  ―  diànnǎo duānkǒu  ―  computer port

   C口  ―  sēikǒu  ―  USB-C port

6. perimeter

   人口  ―  rénkǒu  ―  population

   戶口／户口  ―  hùkǒu  ―  hukou

7. government organ; department
8. Classifier for family members, populations and guns.

   三口之家  ―  sān kǒu zhī jiā  ―  a family of three

9. Classifier for bites or mouthfuls.

   我可以吃一口嗎？ [MSC, trad.]
   我可以吃一口吗？ [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ kěyǐ chī yī kǒu ma?

   Can I have a bite?

10. (neologism, slang) to fellate

    • 為什麼女朋友給我口我沒什麼感覺？ [MSC, trad.]
      为什么女朋友给我口我没什么感觉？ [MSC, simp.]

      From: 2019 August 28, Anonymous, Treehole: #829617

      Wèishénme nǚpéngyǒu gěi wǒ kǒu wǒ méishénme gǎnjiào?

      Why didn't I feel a thing when my girlfriend blew me?

11. a surname

Synonyms

Compounds