How to Write 唝 (gòng) — Meaning “To hum”

Imagine a mouth (口) humming a tune as if offering a gift (贡) to someone. The right part 贡 looks like a box of gifts, so you can picture humming as a pleasant offering of sound.

Keep the mouth radical 口 small and positioned high on the left, then write the right side 贡 with a horizontal stroke for 工 followed by 贝. A common mistake is making the mouth too large or forgetting the final dot below 贝.

唝 means "to hum" specifically, while 呢 is a question particle (like "ne") and 呣 is an interjection like "hmm". Visually, 唝 has 贡 on the right, whereas 呢 has 尼 and 呣 has 母.

唝 is very rare in modern daily life, appearing mostly in historical or poetic texts. You might find it in ancient song titles like "Luogong" (罗唝) or in descriptions of humming sounds in literature.

Common words containing 唝 include: 唝 (gòng) — To hum; 唝唝 (gòng gòng) — Humming sound; 罗唝 (luó gòng) — Luogong (ancient song).