HSK 6 · Work

骨干 gǔgàn “backbone” in Chinese

Traditional 骨幹

What 骨干 means

  1. backbone
  2. mainstay
  3. key member
  4. diaphysis (long segment of a bone)
  5. fig. backbone

How to say 骨干

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale骨gǔ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale干gàn4th tone, falling

骨干 in a sentence

  1. 她是我们公司的技术骨干。

    Tā shì wǒmen gōngsī de jìshù gǔgàn.

    She’s one of our company’s key technical staff.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 这些老队员是球队的骨干。

    Zhèxiē lǎo duìyuán shì qiúduì de gǔgàn.

    These veteran players are the backbone of the team.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 骨干 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 骨 (gǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
骨gǔbone
  • 冎bone
  • ⺼meat form of 肉 · ròu
The character 干 (gān) with each of its parts in a different colour
干gàntree trunk
  • 一one · yī
  • 十ten · shí

Memory aidDrawn from a forked stick used as a weapon or shield. As a simplified character it also stands for 乾 “dry” and 幹 “to do”.

How to write 骨干

骨 9 strokes · 干 3 strokes

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

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

Words related to 骨干

Words with 骨

骨头gǔtou · bone

Words with 干

干净gānjìng · clean干gān · dry饼干bǐnggān · biscuit干杯gānbēi · to drink a toast干燥gānzào · dry (weather干脆gāncuì · simply能干nénggàn · capable干活儿gànhuór · to work干扰gānrǎo · to disturb干涉gānshè · to interfere

More words: Work & Career

岗位gǎngwèi · post公关gōngguān · public relations功劳gōngláo · credit公务gōngwù · official business规划guīhuà · plan顾问gùwèn · adviser雇佣gùyōng · to employ合伙héhuǒ · to form a partnership

FAQs

骨干 (gǔgàn) means “backbone” or “mainstay”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it gǔgàn: gǔ with a 3rd tone, then gàn 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, 骨干 is written 骨幹. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type gugan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 骨干 from the suggestions. Typing gugan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
骨干 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.