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故 — happening; instance; reason

happening; instance; reason; cause; intentional; former; old

Pinyin
gù
Strokes
9
HSK level
HSK 3
Handwriting
required

How to write 故: 9 strokes

Each cell adds one stroke to the previous ones, with the new stroke in red. Stroke order is not decoration: it sets the proportions of the character and makes handwriting legible to a reader. This character is on the HSK handwriting list, so the exam expects you to write it, not only recognise it.

故 — 9 strokes, in writing order from left to right.

Build a printable practice sheet with 故

Words with 故 in the HSK syllabus: 10

Every word in the official 2026 syllabus that contains this character, with the level it is introduced at. Learning a character pays off through these: each one combines with the characters you already know.

  1. 故事gùshinarrative; story; taleHSK 3
  2. 故意gùyìdeliberately; on purposeHSK 4
  3. 故乡gùxiānghome; homeland; native placeHSK 5
  4. 事故shìgùaccidentHSK 5
  5. 故障gùzhàngmalfunction; breakdown; defect; shortcoming; faultHSK 6
  6. 变故biàngùan unforeseen event; accident; misfortuneHSK 7–9
  7. 故gùhappening; instance; reason; cause; intentionalHSK 7–9
  8. 世故shìgùthe ways of the worldHSK 7–9
  9. 无故wúgùwithout cause or reasonHSK 7–9
  10. 缘故yuángùreason; causeHSK 7–9

Glosses come from CC-CEDICT, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, and are the dictionary’s first sense rather than a translation chosen for context.