How to Write 仡 (gē) — Meaning “strong; brave”

Imagine a very strong person (亻) who is so tall that he has to "beg" (乞) for a bigger door to walk through. This connects the person radical with the sound gē from 乞 and the idea of being big and strong.

Start with the left side: write the person radical 亻 as a slant stroke, then a vertical stroke. Then write 乞: first a short left-falling stroke (丿), then a horizontal stroke, then a right-falling stroke (乚) like a hook. Make sure the right side is slightly lower than the left and not too wide.

亿 (yì) means "hundred million" and has the same left radical but the right part is 乙 (yǐ). 什 (shí) means "ten" or "what" and has the right part 十 (shí). 仡 (gē) means "strong" and uses 乞 on the right; it is much less common and appears mainly in ethnic names or classical texts.

Today 仡 appears most often in the name 仡佬族 (Gēlǎo zú), the Gelao ethnic minority in China, and in classical phrases like 仡仡 (gē gē) meaning "tall and towering." It is rarely used in everyday conversation, so learners encounter it mostly when reading about Chinese ethnic groups.

Common words containing 仡 include: 仡佬族 (gē lǎo zú) — Gelao ethnic group; 仡勇 (gē yǒng) — brave and strong; 仡仡 (gē gē) — strong and tall; towering.