姑

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paternal aunt; husband's sister; husband's mother (old); nun; for the time being (literary)

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Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Ideographic compound (会意字)

An older 古 woman 女; 古 also provides the pronunciation

Components 女古

father’s sister · Heisig RSH #1518

女 woman + 古 ancient

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
小姑子	xiǎo gū zi	(coll.) husband's younger sister; sister-in-law
美姑县	Měi gū Xiàn	Meigu, a county in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture 涼山彝族自治州\|凉山彝族自治州[Liang2 shan1 Yi2 zu2…
美姑河	Měi gū Hé	Meigu River in south Sichuan
姑苏区	Gū sū Qū	Gusu, a district of Suzhou City 蘇州市\|苏州市[Su1 zhou1 Shi4], Jiangsu
黄花姑娘	huáng huā gū niang	maiden; virgin girl
皇姑区	Huáng gū Qū	Huanggu, a district of Shenyang City 瀋陽市\|沈阳市[Shen3 yang2 Shi4], Liaoning
大姑	dà gū	father's oldest sister; husband's older sister; sister-in-law
姑子	gū zi	husband's sister; (coll.) Buddhist nun
小姑	xiǎo gū	father's youngest sister; husband's younger sister; sister-in-law
家姑	jiā gū	(polite) father's sisters
道姑	dào gū	Daoist nun
七大姑八大姨	qī dà gū bā dà yí	distant relatives
美姑	Měi gū	see 美姑縣\|美姑县[Mei3 gu1 Xian4]
尼姑	ní gū	Buddhist nun
度姑	dù gū	(Tw) to doze off (from Taiwanese 盹龜, Tai-lo pr. [tuh-ku])
三姑六婆	sān gū liù pó	women with disreputable or illegal professions (idiom)
姑夫	gū fu	father's sister's husband; husband of paternal aunt; uncle
表姑	biǎo gū	father's female cousin via female line
祖姑母	zǔ gū mǔ	father's father's sister; great aunt
红姑娘	hóng gū niang	Chinese lantern plant; winter cherry; strawberry ground-cherry; Physalis alkekengi

These characters use 姑 as their sound component — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
姑 sound part	gū	father's sister; husband's mother
菇	gū	mushroom