HSK 6 · Ideas

缘故 yuángù “reason” in Chinese

Traditional 緣故

What 缘故 means

  1. reason
  2. cause

How to say 缘故

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale缘yuán2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale故gù4th tone, falling

缘故 in a sentence

  1. 因为我这份工作的缘故，我总是要打领带。

    Yīnwèi wǒ zhè fèn gōngzuò de yuángù, wǒ zǒngshì yào dǎ lǐngdài.

    I always have to wear a tie because of my job.

    Sentence #1238379 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 伦敦过去因为经济和文化的缘故，十分重要。

    Lúndūn guòqù yīnwèi jīngjì hé wénhuà de yuángù, shífēn zhòngyào.

    London was once very important for economic and cultural reasons.

    Sentence #5494311 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 你知道为什么吗？是猫的缘故。

    Nǐ zhīdao wèishénme ma? Shì māo de yuángù.

    Do you know why? It’s because of the cats.

    Sentence #2082971 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 缘故 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 缘 (yuán) with each of its parts in a different colour
缘yuáncause
  • 纟silk form of 糸 · mìMeaning part
  • 彖hog · tuànSound part

纟 hints at the meaning (silk); 彖 (tuàn) hints at the sound. Compare it with yuán.

The character 故 (gù) with each of its parts in a different colour
故gùhappening
  • 古old · gǔSound part
  • 攵tap form of 攴 · pūMeaning part

攵 hints at the meaning (tap); 古 (gǔ) hints at the sound. Compare it with gù.

How to write 缘故

缘 12 strokes · 故 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

缘故 (yuángù) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 缘故 (yuángù). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 缘故

Words with 缘

边缘biānyuán · edge

Words with 故

故事gùshi · story故意gùyì · deliberately故乡gùxiāng · hometown事故shìgù · accident故障gùzhàng · fault变故biàngù · misfortune

More words: Ideas & Concepts

意图yìtú · intention意向yìxiàng · intention优胜劣汰yōushèngliètài · survival of the fittest优先yōuxiān · priority原理yuánlǐ · principle源泉yuánquán · source与日俱增yǔrìjùzēng · to grow day by day预兆yùzhào · omen

FAQs

缘故 (yuángù) means “reason” or “cause”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it yuángù: yuán with a 2nd tone, then gù with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 缘故 is written 緣故. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yuangu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 缘故 from the suggestions. Typing yuangu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
缘故 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.