口
kǒu
mouth; opening; entrance; classifier for people
Meaning
- Anatomy and Speech: The mouth; often used as a synecdoche for speech, the voice, or specific utterances.
- Apertures and Geography: Any opening or point of transition, including entrances, gates, portals, and geographic bottlenecks (e.g., mountain passes, river mouths, or cave entrances).
- Administrative/Demographic: A classifier used in census, taxation, or logistics to denote an individual person ("a mouth to feed").
Grammar and usage
- Noun: As listed above.
- Measure Word: Used for items relating to the mouth, such as sips of liquid, breaths, or specific phrases.
Translator notes
Because 口 is a common radical in many other characters, the translator should verify that a standalone instance of the glyph is not a scribal error or shorthand corruption of a more complex character, particularly when the context suggests a more specific object or action.
Decontextualized translator aid. This page describes plausible lexical range; it does not choose what the glyph means in a particular passage.