(hū) — HSK 4 Recognition Character: Meaning, Radical & Stroke Order

to breathe, to exhale, to sigh; to call, to shout 8 strokes · Radical (mouth) · HSK 4 recognition character (认读字)
👁 Recognition only: the official HSK 4 syllabus asks you to recognize 呼 when reading — handwriting it is not required (that applies to the 150 writing characters). The stroke animation below is optional but helps memory.

Pronunciation & meaning

Pronounced .

Stroke Order & Practice

Click Animate to see the correct stroke order, then Practice to trace it yourself.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
呼 — 8 strokes, numbered in writing order. 笔顺图(数字为下笔顺序)。

Decomposition

breaks down into 2 components arranged as Left + Right. Recognizing the components makes the character easier to remember and write.

=
left mouth
right interrogative or exclamatory final particle

Radical

The radical of is — meaning mouth. Radicals are the indexing components used in Chinese dictionaries; they often hint at a character's broad meaning category.

Other HSK 4 characters that share this radical: .

How the character is built

is a phono-semantic compound. The semantic component (mouth) carries the meaning, while the phonetic component originally indicated the sound.

HSK 4 Words Containing 呼

打招 dǎ zhāohu to greet; to say hello
他笑着跟我打招呼。
Tā xiàozhe gēn wǒ dǎ zhāohu.
He greeted me with a smile.

Seen in the Real Exams / 真题例句

appears in 2 questions across the 19 mock & official HSK 4 exams on this site. Real exam sentences using it:

女的为什么没和男的打招
From Mock Exam 19 →

Tasks Featuring 呼 / 相关任务

Words containing appear in these official HSK 4 task scenarios — study the character in context:

📚 介绍风俗传统
Customs & Traditions · 打招呼

FAQ

What does 呼 mean in Chinese?

呼 (hū) means to breathe, to exhale, to sigh; to call, to shout. It is one of the 441 characters HSK 4 requires you to recognize when reading (认读字).

How many strokes does 呼 have?

呼 is written in 8 strokes. Use the practice tool above to see the correct stroke order and trace it yourself.

What is the radical of 呼?

The radical of 呼 is 口 (mouth). Other HSK 4 characters with the same radical include 品, 吹, 台, 否, 另.

What is the pinyin for 呼?

呼 is pronounced hū.

What HSK 4 words use 呼?

In our HSK 4 vocabulary, 呼 appears in 1 word, including 打招呼 (dǎ zhāohu). See the full list above.

hòu All Characters hù →