Pinyin initial: "gu"

The Pinyin initial "gu" is used in the first half of Pinyin syllables. In MandarinBanana's mnemonic system, "gu" belongs to the group of Pinyin initials which are represented in mnemonics by animals. You can visit the Pinyin index to see all Pinyin syllables from this mnemonic group, or to see all Pinyin syllables "gu" can appear in.

Mnemonics for gu

Gu is for Gitta Giraffe.

Characters with gu

radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 2)

Mnemonic symbol: a dinosaur bone. Gitta Giraffe (gu-) found a gorgeous dinosaur bone (丨) in the encampment's living room ((e)n3).
country / nation / state / national / CL:個|个[ge4]

= + : Mnemonic symbol: a nation's flag. Let's say the Chinese flag.

In the observatory's kitchen (o2) Gitta Giraffe (gu) is practising her ballet performance. She got a whole crate (囗) full of jade bracelets (玉) and flags (国) and fixed one flag to each jade bracelet. This makes a perfect combination for throwing the ring with the flag waving behind it and catching the ring again after a few pirouettes.
surname Guo
work / worker / skill / profession / trade / craft / labor

= + : Mnemonic symbol: a steel beam, since 工 looks like the cross section of a steel beam.

Gitta Giraffe (gu) is working a shift in front of the engine ((e)ng1). Her job is to melt dinosaur bones (丨) so that they can be disposed off easily. To melt the bones, she is shorting a huge capacitor (二) with a steel beam (工) which consequently heats up to a bright glow. Using the glowing hot steel beam she can melt the dinosaur bone easily.
meritorious deed or service / achievement / result / service / accomplishment / work (physics)

= + : Gitta Giraffe practices her Kung Fu skills in front of the engine with a sparring robot made out of steel beams. The robot is programmed to fight Kung Fu, but Gitta Giraffe's Kung Fu is better: she hits the robots power button and turns it off.
ancient / old / paleo-

= + : Mnemonic symbol: at least on German maps, this character actually resembles a cloister.

Oh no! Gitta Giraffe (gu) found that the golden cross (十) broke off of the cloister (古) in the space station's living room (Ø3)! She skewers a mandarin (口) on top of the cloister so that she can skewer the broken off cross back on to fix it.
surname Gu
hard / strong / solid / sure / assuredly / undoubtedly / of course / indeed / admittedly

= + : Gitta Giraffe is building a hard and solid stronghold inside the bathroom's space station. The stronghold consists of a cloister inside a wooden box.
fruit / result / resolute / indeed / if really

= + : Gitta Giraffe is not feeling well inside observatory and decides to eat healthy. To plant a field, she first distributes some Christmas trees as manure, then puts a field on it and finally plants some ravines. Soon she will be eating grapes and feel better.
variant of 果[guo3] / fruit

= + : Gitta Giraffe is not feeling well inside observatory and decides to eat healthy. To plant a field, she first distributes some Christmas trees as manure, then puts a field on it and finally plants some ravines. Soon she will be eating grapes and feel better.
valley

= + + : Mnemonic symbol: popcorn.

= + + : Gitta Giraffe conducts an experiment in the space station. She shows Neanderthal Man three things: a mandarin, popcorn, and an eight-ball, and records how much he likes to eat each of these. Neanderthal Man thinks that the eight ball is a little crunchy.
surname Gu

= + + : Gitta Giraffe conducts an experiment in the space station. She shows Neanderthal Man three things: a mandarin, popcorn, and an eight-ball, and records how much he likes to eat each of these. Neanderthal Man thinks that the eight ball is a little crunchy.

= + + : Mnemonic symbol: popcorn.
grain / corn

= + + : Gitta Giraffe conducts an experiment in the space station. She shows Neanderthal Man three things: a mandarin, popcorn, and an eight-ball, and records how much he likes to eat each of these. Neanderthal Man thinks that the eight ball is a little crunchy.

= + + : Mnemonic symbol: popcorn.
common / general / to share / together / total / altogether / abbr. for 共產黨|共产党[Gong4 chan3 dang3], Communist party

= + : A giant eight-ball is blocking the well in the engine's bathroom. Joining forces together with the communist, Gitta Giraffe and he are able to push the eight-ball off and make the well available to the public again.

= + : Mnemonic symbol: the communist.
estimate

= + : Gitta Giraffe (gu) is working as evaluator in front of the space station (Ø1). She has to evaluate a cloister (古) in which Rosa Luxemburg (亻) is meditating because some investors want to change it into a luxury hotel. Gitta knows that Rosa will not give up the cloister voluntarily and thus estimates (估) that it is not worth to try and evict the cloister.
old / second-hand (clothes)
sacrificial offering / to confess

= + : Gitta Giraffe (gu) is being interrogated by Rosa Luxemburg (亻) and the communist (共) In engine's bathroom ((e)ng4). Rosa and the communist want to squeeze a confession (供) out of Gitta, so they use the water boarding (供) technique.
to provide / to supply

= + : Gitta Giraffe ((e)ng1) is donating (供) blood in front of the engine ((e)ng1). Rosa Luxemburg (亻) draws the blood and the communist (共) stores it.
surname Guang

广 = + 丿 : The English Wiktionary lists "canopy" as a possible meaning, and an example for a canopy is the upper part of a parachute. That's what I'll use to represent this character in other characters. In the anglepod, Gitta Giraffe just invented the art of building a parachute out of berets and bananas, using the berets as canopy and banana peels as strings. Soon, this new sport spreads all over the world as the new thing to do.
wide / numerous / to spread

广 = + 丿 : The English Wiktionary lists "canopy" as a possible meaning, and an example for a canopy is the upper part of a parachute. That's what I'll use to represent this character in other characters. In the anglepod, Gitta Giraffe just invented the art of building a parachute out of berets and bananas, using the berets as canopy and banana peels as strings. Soon, this new sport spreads all over the world as the new thing to do.