Chinese symbol for “hook”
钩
gōu
Traditional: 鉤
to hook; to sew; to crochet; hook
The closest CC-CEDICT match for hook is 钩 (gōu), defined as: to hook; to sew; to crochet; hook; check mark or tick; window catch.
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
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “hook”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 钩子 (鉤子) | gōu zi | hook |
| 勾拳 | gōu quán | hook (punch in boxing) |
| 剳 | dá | hook; sickle |
| 钩拳 (鉤拳) | gōu quán | (boxing) hook |
| 挂钩 (掛鉤) | guà gōu | to couple; to link; to hook together; (fig.) (preceded by 与 (yǔ) + {entity}) to establish contact (with {entity}); (Tw) to collude (with {entity}) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 钩.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 挂钩 (掛鉤) | guà gōu | to couple; to link; to hook together; (fig.) (preceded by 与 (yǔ) + {entity}) to establish contact (with {entity}); (Tw) to collude (with {en |
| 脱钩 (脫鉤) | tuō gōu | to cut ties; to disconnect |
| 上钩 (上鉤) | shàng gōu | to take the bait |
| 钩子 (鉤子) | gōu zi | hook |
| 鱼钩 (魚鉤) | yú gōu | fishhook |
| 铁钩 (鐵鈎) | tiě gōu | iron hook |
See also: Japanese symbol for “hook”.
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.