<p>The glyph「丨」is called <strong>gǔn</strong> as a dictionary radical, and appears in most dictionaries including the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangxi_Dictionary" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Kangxi Dictionary</em></a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinhua_Zidian" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Xinhua Zidian</em></a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiandai_Hanyu_Cidian" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Xiandai Hanyu Cidian</em></a>. It is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homograph" rel="nofollow noreferrer">homograph</a> of the character stroke <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke_(CJKV_character)#Basic_strokes" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>shù</strong></a>, which just means <em>vertical (line)</em>, but this name is not the proper one used when referring to the radical.</p>

<p>The pronunciation of「丨」can be verified in e.g. the Kangxi Dictionary:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/ocsKm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/ocsKm.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>「丨」, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiyun" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Jiyun</em></a>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanqie" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Fanqie</em></a> initial <strong>gǔ</strong> and rime <strong>běn</strong>.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Characters which are grouped under「丨」commonly are done so because they couldn't be easily grouped under something else. The vast majority of these characters have a vertical stroke as a prominent feature in the character, and this is about all that they share.</p>

<p>The following are the only commonly used characters which are grouped under「丨」:</p>

<p><strong>个, 丫, 中, 丰, 串, 临</strong></p>

<hr>

<p>As @dan mentioned, many people wouldn't understand what exactly this radical is (myself included, before I looked this up), because in general, radicals are not an intrinsic feature of Chinese characters. The most meaningful radicals also happen to be useful phonetic or semantic indicators, but not all radicals are, and there are a few "leftover" radicals that were created for the sake of grouping characters which can't be grouped under other radicals, such as「丨」,「丶」(<strong>zhǔ</strong>) and「丿」(<strong>piě</strong>).</p>

<p>To reiterate, these radicals are just shapes, and don't really mean or sound like anything to do with the characters that are grouped under them.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T05:49:28.163Z
Can that pronunciation be verified in 新华字典？
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T05:53:44.410Z
@dan I don't have a copy to check on me, but if you search on most Modern Chinese dictionaries they'll give the same pronunciation (gǔn). I just did a quick check online \(e.g. [here](http://xh.5156edu.com/)\).
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T06:07:04.283Z
@dan I just checked 現代漢語詞典 and 漢語大詞典. 現代漢語詞典 doesn't record it as a separate entry (and hence doesn't give a pronunciation), but only groups characters under it by heading it with "丨部". 漢語大詞典 records it as gǔn.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T06:08:27.643Z
I have one handy, but I can't get that pronunciation in it. I specifically look into all the characters with the pronunciation gun, but there is no 丨.  Normally, we say 竖部 in daily communications. If you say gun3 部， I am not sure how many people understand it. Anyways, it's good to know it.
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T06:10:33.243Z
@dan I think this is like the difference in the colloquial name for 彳 (雙人旁) and the proper name (chi4 部). BTW, I'm guessing 丨 isn't listed under shu4 either in your dictionary?
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T06:23:23.880Z
one of the definition of 竖 under 新华字典 is 直，汉字自上往下写的一种笔型 (丨). It does define it. I don't take 双人旁 as a merely colloquial term either.
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T06:25:40.637Z
@dan but that's a stroke name, it's kind of like how we don't call 一 as 橫 (which is another stroke name). If you check your dictionary for 橫 it might give the same sort of explanation as well.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T06:45:29.620Z
in practice, there is no problem to say 横部. If you say yi1部, I may think you meant 衣, not 一 instead. Anyways, overall your findings are still good and I will upvote it.
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T05:38:32.817Z
2018-06-24T05:45:32.280Z
2018-06-24T05:45:32.280Z
dROOOze
<p>According to <a href="http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cbdic/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">國語辭典</a> in Taiwan,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>【丨】　部首：丨　部首外筆畫數：0　總筆畫數：1</p>
<p>漢語拼音 gǔn</p>
<p>二一四部首之一。</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is one of the 214 radicals. One stroke. Pinyin is <strong>&quot;gǔn&quot;</strong></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T11:23:02.057Z
2018-06-24T12:03:29.310Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Nobody
<p>I'm trying to learn a new method for learning and understanding chinese characters. So, I decided to start with memorizing every chinese radical. I'm use two different source but both wrote two different pinyin. Which one is right?</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/6TKfd.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/6TKfd.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/piz3i.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/piz3i.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T04:28:03.163Z
Normally, it's 竖 shu4.
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T04:29:33.443Z
The radical is gun3. Shu4 is the name of a stroke.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T05:09:00.497Z
@droooze can you shed some light on the radical gun3? I think many wouldn't understand it. Maybe, it relates to the traditional Chinese I guess? Thanks.
dan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-24T05:41:23.447Z
@dan It doesn't have anything to do with Traditional Chinese, it's just a radical (dictionary header) which doesn't really provide anything apart from a convenient grouping for characters which can't be grouped under anything else. Several common Simplified characters are grouped under this, while their Traditional counterparts wouldn't be.
dROOOze
<meaning><pinyin><radicals>
What is the true pinyin pronunciation for this radical?
# What is the true pinyin pronunciation for this radical?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-06-24)

I'm trying to learn a new method for learning and understanding chinese characters. So, I decided to start with memorizing every chinese radical. I'm use two different source but both wrote two different pinyin. Which one is right?

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/6TKfd.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/6TKfd.jpg)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/piz3i.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/piz3i.jpg)

**Tags:** meaning, pinyin, radicals
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Normally, it's 竖 shu4.  
> **username_2**: The radical is gun3. Shu4 is the name of a stroke.  
> **username_1**: @droooze can you shed some light on the radical gun3? I think many wouldn't understand it. Maybe, it relates to the traditional Chinese I guess? Thanks.  
> **username_2**: @dan It doesn't have anything to do with Traditional Chinese, it's just a radical (dictionary header) which doesn't really provide anything apart from a convenient grouping for characters which can't be grouped under anything else. Several common Simplified characters are grouped under this, while their Traditional counterparts wouldn't be.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-06-24. Score: 3

The glyph「丨」is called **gǔn** as a dictionary radical, and appears in most dictionaries including the [*Kangxi Dictionary*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangxi_Dictionary), [*Xinhua Zidian*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinhua_Zidian), and [*Xiandai Hanyu Cidian*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiandai_Hanyu_Cidian). It is a [homograph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homograph) of the character stroke [**shù**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke_(CJKV_character)#Basic_strokes), which just means *vertical (line)*, but this name is not the proper one used when referring to the radical.

The pronunciation of「丨」can be verified in e.g. the Kangxi Dictionary:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/ocsKm.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/ocsKm.png)

> 「丨」, [*Jiyun*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiyun): [*Fanqie*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanqie) initial **gǔ** and rime **běn**.

Characters which are grouped under「丨」commonly are done so because they couldn't be easily grouped under something else. The vast majority of these characters have a vertical stroke as a prominent feature in the character, and this is about all that they share.

The following are the only commonly used characters which are grouped under「丨」:

**个, 丫, 中, 丰, 串, 临**

---

As @dan mentioned, many people wouldn't understand what exactly this radical is (myself included, before I looked this up), because in general, radicals are not an intrinsic feature of Chinese characters. The most meaningful radicals also happen to be useful phonetic or semantic indicators, but not all radicals are, and there are a few "leftover" radicals that were created for the sake of grouping characters which can't be grouped under other radicals, such as「丨」,「丶」(**zhǔ**) and「丿」(**piě**).

To reiterate, these radicals are just shapes, and don't really mean or sound like anything to do with the characters that are grouped under them.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Can that pronunciation be verified in 新华字典？  
> **username_2**: @dan I don't have a copy to check on me, but if you search on most Modern Chinese dictionaries they'll give the same pronunciation (gǔn). I just did a quick check online \(e.g. [here](http://xh.5156edu.com/)\).  
> **username_2**: @dan I just checked 現代漢語詞典 and 漢語大詞典. 現代漢語詞典 doesn't record it as a separate entry (and hence doesn't give a pronunciation), but only groups characters under it by heading it with "丨部". 漢語大詞典 records it as gǔn.  
> **username_1**: I have one handy, but I can't get that pronunciation in it. I specifically look into all the characters with the pronunciation gun, but there is no 丨.  Normally, we say 竖部 in daily communications. If you say gun3 部， I am not sure how many people understand it. Anyways, it's good to know it.  
> **username_2**: @dan I think this is like the difference in the colloquial name for 彳 (雙人旁) and the proper name (chi4 部). BTW, I'm guessing 丨 isn't listed under shu4 either in your dictionary?  
> **username_1**: one of the definition of 竖 under 新华字典 is 直，汉字自上往下写的一种笔型 (丨). It does define it. I don't take 双人旁 as a merely colloquial term either.  
> **username_2**: @dan but that's a stroke name, it's kind of like how we don't call 一 as 橫 (which is another stroke name). If you check your dictionary for 橫 it might give the same sort of explanation as well.  
> **username_1**: in practice, there is no problem to say 横部. If you say yi1部, I may think you meant 衣, not 一 instead. Anyways, overall your findings are still good and I will upvote it.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-06-24. Score: 0

According to [國語辭典](http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cbdic/) in Taiwan,

> 【丨】　部首：丨　部首外筆畫數：0　總筆畫數：1
>
> 漢語拼音 gǔn
>
> 二一四部首之一。

It is one of the 214 radicals. One stroke. Pinyin is **"gǔn"**


---

