How to Write 嵝 (lǒu) — Meaning “Lou (mountain name)”

Think of 'mountain (山) with a female (女) on top and a square (口) underneath' — the right side 娄 looks like a woman (女) sitting inside an enclosure (米-like shape, but actually 娄 combines 女 and 米). Visualize a woman climbing a mountain and carrying a bag of rice (米) to remember the right side's components.

Write the left radical 山 first, making it narrow and tall with three strokes. The right side 娄 has 9 strokes: start with 米 (rice), then the bottom 女 — note that the last stroke of 米 is a right-falling stroke (捺) that changes to a dot when 女 follows. Common mistakes include making the 山 too wide or forgetting the dot in 女.

嵝 (lǒu) is a specific mountain name (e.g., 岣嵝峰), while 峨 (é) means 'high' or 'lofty' (as in 峨眉山) and 峪 (yù) means 'valley' or 'ravine.' Visually, 峨 has 我 on the right, 峪 has 谷, and 嵝 has 娄 — they share the 山 radical but differ in their phonetic and semantic components.

嵝 is rare and mostly found in place names, like 岣嵝 (Gǒulǒu), a peak of Mount Heng in Hunan. You might see it in historical or geographic texts, but it is not common in daily conversation or HSK vocabulary. Learning it helps recognize classical mountain names and traditional Chinese geography.

Common words containing 嵝 include: 岣嵝 (gǒu lǒu) — Goulou (a peak of Mount Heng); 嵝山 (lǒu shān) — Lou Mountain; 嵝岭 (lǒu lǐng) — Lou Ridge.