口

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 口 (kǒu) for "mouth" is a pictograph that depicts a person's mouth. The earliest known form of the character, found in oracle bone inscriptions from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BCE), is a simple representation of a mouth with a horizontal line for the upper lip and a curved line for the lower lip. Over time, the character became more stylized, and the horizontal line for the upper lip was replaced by a dot.The character 口 is used in a variety of words related to the mouth, such as 说话 (shuōhuà, "to speak"), 吃饭 (chīfàn, "to eat"), and 唱歌 (chànggē, "to sing"). It is also used in some words that are not directly related to the mouth, such as 入口 (rùkǒu, "entrance") and 出口 (chūkǒu, "exit").The character 口 is also used as a radical in other Chinese characters, such as 品 (pǐn, "quality"), 味 (wèi, "taste"), and 咽 (yàn, "to swallow"). These characters all have something to do with the mouth, and the radical 口 helps to indicate their meaning.The character 口 is a common character in Chinese, and it is important for HSK learners to be familiar with its meaning and pronunciation.