How to Write 郜 (gào) — Meaning “Gao (a surname)”

Imagine a person in a town (阝) loudly announcing (告) their surname: "I am Gao!" The left side 阝 looks like a flag on a hill, and the right side 告 has a mouth (口) on top, so picture someone shouting their name from a hill. This connects the meaning (a surname) with the parts "town" and "announce."

Write the left radical 阝 first with two strokes: a hook and then a vertical line. The right part 告 has a short upper stroke (牛-like shape but without the leftward curve), then a horizontal line, then a mouth (口) at the bottom. A common mistake is making the top of 告 too wide; keep the horizontal stroke shorter than the mouth below.

郜 is a surname pronounced gào, while 邮 (yóu) means "post" or "mail" and 邯 (hán) is only used in the city name Handan (邯郸). Visually, 邮 has the right component 由 (yóu) instead of 告, and 邯 has 甘 (gān) instead of 告. Remember: 郜 has 告 (announce) inside, linking to the surname Gao.

郜 is exclusively a Chinese surname, not a common word in daily vocabulary. You will see it in names like 郜先生 (Mr. Gao) or 郜老师 (Teacher Gao). It is a rare surname, so when you meet someone named 郜, they often need to explain which character it is, sometimes saying "It is the 郜 with the ear radical and the announce part."

Common words containing 郜 include: 郜先生 (gào xiān shēng) — Mr. Gao; 郜老师 (gào lǎo shī) — Teacher Gao; 姓郜 (xìng gào) — Surname Gao.