胡

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non-Han people, esp. from central Asia; reckless; outrageous; what?; why?; to complete a winning hand at mahjong (also written 和[hu2])

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Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Phono-semantic compound (形声字)

⺼ meaning “meat” + 古 sound ( gǔ )

Components 古⺼

recklessly · Heisig RSH #17

moon + 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
红胡子	hóng hú zi	band of mounted bandits in Manchuria (archaic)
胡同儿	hú tòng r	erhua form of 胡同[hu2 tong4]
信口胡说	xìn kǒu hú shuō	to speak without thinking; to blurt sth out
内塔尼亚胡	Nèi tǎ ní yà hú	Netanyahu (name); Benjamin Netanyahu (1949-), Israeli Likud politician, prime minister 199…
胡子	hú zi	beard; mustache or whiskers; facial hair; CL:撮[zuo3],根[gen1]; (coll.) bandit
胡人	hú rén	ethnic groups in the north and west of China in ancient times; foreigner; barbarian
满口胡言	mǎn kǒu hú yán	to spout nonsense; to bullshit endlessly
胡说八道	hú shuō bā dào	to talk rubbish
胡天	Hú tiān	Zoroastrianism
胡花	hú huā	to spend recklessly; to squander money
死胡同	sǐ hú tòng	dead end; blind alley
胡安	Hú ān	Juan (Spanish given name)
胡克	Hú kè	Hook or Hooke (name); Robert Hooke (1635-1703), brilliant English experimental scientist a…
胡作非为	hú zuò fēi wéi	to run amok (idiom); to commit outrages
山羊胡子	shān yáng hú zi	goatee
圣胡安	Shèng hú ān	San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico
胡图族	Hú tú zú	Hutu, an ethnic group in Rwanda and Burundi
八字胡	bā zì hú	mustache shaped like character 八
胡志明市	Hú Zhì míng Shì	Ho Chi Minh City a.k.a. Saigon, Vietnam
一派胡言	yī pài hú yán	a bunch of nonsense

Characters sharing the sound component 古 — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
古 sound part	gǔ	old, classic, ancient
苦	kǔ	bitter; hardship, suffering
居	jū	to live, to reside; to dwell; to sit
故	gù	reason, cause; happening, instance
固	gù	to solidify; strength
估	gū	merchant; to estimate, to guess, to presume
咕	gū	mumble, mutter, murmur; rumble
鸪	gū	species of Taiwan pigeon
沽	gū	to buy and sell; of inferior quality
蛄	gū	mole cricket
辜	gū	crime, offense, sin
祜	hù	blessings, happiness, prosperity
怙	hù	to rely on; to presume; father (formal)
钴	gǔ	cobalt; clothes-iron
罟	gǔ	net, snare; to implicate
诂	gǔ	explanation; to comment, to explain
骷	kū	skeleton
嘏	gǔ	felicity, prosperity; large and strong
轱	gū	wheel; to revolve, to turn