King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “gulf”

鸿沟
hóng gōu
Traditional: 鴻溝
(fig.) gulf; chasm; wide gap; (originally) the Hong Canal in Henan, which in ancient times formed the border between enemies Chu 楚 (Chǔ) and Han 汉 (Hàn)

The closest CC-CEDICT match for gulf is 鸿沟 (hóng gōu), defined as: (fig.) gulf; chasm; wide gap; (originally) the Hong Canal in Henan, which in ancient times formed the border between enemies Chu 楚 (Chǔ) and Han 汉 (Hàn).

Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.

Characters and stroke order

鸿 hóng
a species of wild swan; vast
radical 196 ⿃ · 11 strokes
沟 gōu
ditch, drain, gutter, narrow waterway
radical 85 ⽔ · 7 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “gulf”

WordPinyinMeaning
湾 (灣)wānbay; gulf
海湾 (海灣)hǎi wānbay; gulf

Related words

Other words that share a character with 鸿沟.

WordPinyinMeaning
飞鸿 (飛鴻)fēi hóngswan goose; (fig.) letter; message
鸿雁 (鴻雁)hóng yàn(bird species of China) swan goose (Anser cygnoides)
鸿运 (鴻運)hóng yùnvariant of 红运 (hóng yùn)
鸿蒙 (鴻蒙)hóng méng(literary) primordial chaos (the undifferentiated state of the universe before creation)
鸿福 (鴻福)hóng fúvariant of 洪福 (hóng fú)
沟通 (溝通)gōu tōngto join; to connect; to link up; to communicate
水沟 (水溝)shuǐ gōugutter; sewer
沟渠 (溝渠)gōu qúchannel; moat

See also: Japanese symbol for “gulf”.

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.

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