Simplified Chinese character Gu

Read the whole word: 顾 can mean care, attention, or looking back.

In modern Chinese, the neighboring characters narrow the sense: 照顾 means taking care of someone or something, 顾客 means a customer, and 回顾 means reviewing or looking back. The Mandarin surname 顾 (Gù) names a person; in classical Chinese, grammar can also make it mean “but” or “instead.”

Older forms appear on bronze and on bamboo slips, narrow strips used for writing. A bronze form ancestral to 顧 is dated around 250 BCE, near the end of China's Warring States era, when rival states ruled separate regions. An early analysis reads one older form as a bird beside 寡 (“few”) and links it to looking back. The early Chinese character dictionary Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字) analyzes 顧 as 頁, a head-related meaning part, plus 雇 for sound. The senses extend from looking back toward attention and consideration. These are historical analyses, not pictures of 顧's modern strokes.

Should I use 顾 or 顧?

Match the written form to the Chinese script convention.

As of 2026, mainland Chinese writing normally uses 顾, while Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan normally use 顧. Match the script of the surrounding text rather than choosing whichever shape looks nicer.

A simplified-to-traditional converter can turn 顾 into 顧 without changing the intended word. That is character conversion, not just a font change.

How is 顧 used in Japanese?

Japanese uses 顧 in words about looking back and considering.

Japanese has the reading コ (ko) in compounds and かえりみる (“look back”). Examples include 回顧 (looking back), 顧客 (customer), 顧問 (adviser) and 顧慮 (consideration). For a Japanese word, use 顧; 顾 is the simplified Chinese form.