发 (fā): to send out, to show (one's feeling), to issue

发 (fā) is a Chinese character meaning “to send out.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 又 (structural). It ranks #47 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to send out
  2. to show (one's feeling)
  3. to issue

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

Practice writing 发 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 发

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
发生verbfā shēngto happen3
发现verbfā xiànto notice3
头发nountóu fahair (on the head)3
出发verbchū fāto set off3
发展verbfā zhǎndevelopment3
发出verbfā chūto issue (an order, decree etc)4
发明verb/nounfā míngto invent5
沙发nounshā fā(loanword) sofa,張|张)3
发表verbfā biǎoto issue5
发挥verbfā huīto display5
发动verbfā dòngto start6
爆发verbbào fāto break out6
发送verbfā sòngto transmit4
发布verbfā bùvariant of 發布|发布5
引发verbyǐn fāto lead to6
发言verb/nounfā yánto make a speech5
发光verbfā guāngto emit light6
开发verbkāi fāto exploit (a resource)5
发烧verbfā shāoto have a high temperature (from illness)3
发行verbfā xíngto publish6
发音verb/nounfā yīnto pronounce5
发起verbfā qǐto originate5
突发verbtū fāto occur suddenly6
启发verbqǐ fāto enlighten6
激发verbjī fāto arouse6
散发verbsàn fāto distribute6
发达adjective/verbfā dáwell-developed5
发育verbfā yùto develop6
理发verblǐ fàto get a haircut4
研发verbyán fāresearch and development5
发放verbfā fàngto provide6
发票nounfā piàoinvoice6
发电verbfā diànto generate electricity6
发病verbfā bìng(of an illness) to occur6
发炎verbfā yánto become inflamed6
发愁verbfā chóuto worry6
转发verbzhuǎn fāto transmit4
127
Total compounds
55
As first character
38
As last character
7
As middle character

发 appears in 127 compound words: 55 as the first character, 38 as the last, and 7 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 发 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

爆bào
0.55962,118 co-occurrences
展zhǎn
0.554224,068 co-occurrences
开kāi
0.554155,644 co-occurrences
颁bān
0.55123,390 co-occurrences
射shè
0.52669,500 co-occurrences
掘jué
0.52416,276 co-occurrences
现xiàn
0.514233,047 co-occurrences
生shēng
0.479208,246 co-occurrences
动dòng
0.47082,782 co-occurrences
布bù
0.459137,237 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (42)

白发苍苍báifà cāngcāngHSK 7+

hoary; white-haired

phrase
东窗事发dōngchuāngshìfāHSK 4+

to come to light; to be exposed

verb
发财致富fā cái zhì fùHSK 6+

to become rich; enrichment

phrase
发奋图强fāfèntúqiángHSK 4+

to work diligently (ex. to make the country strong)

phrase
发愤图强fā fèn tú qiángHSK 6+

to be strongly determined to succeed (idiom)

phrase
发愤忘食fāfènwàngshíHSK 6+

to study or work hard, neglecting one's meals; be so immersed in work as to forget one's meals

phrase
发号施令fāhàoshīlìngHSK 5+

to issue orders; to boss people around

phrase
发人深省fārénshēnxǐngHSK 4+

to set people thinking; to call for deep thought

phrase
发人深醒fā rén shēn xǐngHSK 4+

variant of 發人深省|发人深省

phrase
发脱口齿fā tuō kǒu chǐHSK 5+

diction; enunciation

phrase
发扬蹈厉fā yáng dǎo lìHSK 5+

see 發揚踔厲|发扬踔厉

phrase
发扬光大fāyángguāngdàHSK 4+

to carry forward; to enhance

phrase

Showing 12 of 42 idioms containing 发.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

发现问题的第一时间,他就向上级汇报了情况。

Fāxiàn wèntí de dì yī shíjiān, tā jiù xiàng shàngjí huìbào le qíngkuàng.

The moment he discovered the problem, he reported the situation to his superiors.

百度新闻Feb 2026

小伙出售前女友送的银手镯,剪开发现内芯为30克高纯..

xiǎo huǒ chū shòu qián nǚ yǒu sòng de yín shǒu 镯 , jiǎn kāi fā xiàn nèi xīn wéi kè gāo chún . .

The guy sold his ex-girlfriend to send the silver bracelet, cut open and found that the core for 30 grams of high-purity...

百度新闻Feb 2026

俄罗斯莫斯科地铁举行中国春节主题列车发车仪式

é luó sī mò sī kē dì tiě jǔ háng zhōng guó chūn jié zhǔ tí liè chē fā chē yí shì

Chinese New Year-themed train launch ceremony held in Russia's Moscow Metro

百度新闻Feb 2026

突发:一男子手持霰弹枪冲向美国国会大厦

tū fā yī nán zǐ shǒu chí 霰 dàn qiāng chōng xiàng měi guó guó huì dà xià

BREAKING: A man with a shotgun rushes the U.S. Capitol building

百度新闻Feb 2026

大年初一,浙大发顶刊论文:用人工智能为膜蛋白造“装..

dà nián chū yī , zhè dà fā dǐng kān lún wén yòng rén gōng zhì néng wéi mó dàn bái zào zhuāng . .

On Chinese New Year's Day, Zhejiang University publishes top-tier journal paper: Using AI to "dress" membrane proteins...

百度新闻Feb 2026

春节不打烊,广州交投集团中欧班列预计发运9列、货值..

chūn jié bù dǎ 烊 , guǎng zhōu jiāo tóu jí tuán zhōng ōu bān liè yù jì fā yùn liè huò zhí . .

Guangzhou Transport Investment Group's China-Europe freight trains will operate throughout the Spring Festival, with 9 trains scheduled to depart carrying goods worth...

百度新闻Feb 2026

...:春晚人形机器人表演展现中国人工智能飞速发..

. . . chūn wǎn rén xíng jī qì rén biǎo yǎn zhǎn xiàn zhōng guó rén gōng zhì néng fēi sù fā . .

...: The Spring Festival Gala's humanoid robot performance showcases China's rapid advancement in artificial intelligence...

百度新闻Feb 2026

...另一场“巷战”:AI挤进春节档,不止为了发红..

. . . lìng yī chǎng xiàng zhàn jǐ jìn chūn jié dǎng , bù zhǐ wéi le fā hóng . .

...Another "Battle of the Lanes": AI Invades the Spring Festival Box Office, Not Just for the Red Envelopes...

Tatoeba

有人能发这个词的音吗?

Yǒurén néng fā zhège cí de yīn ma?

Can anyone pronounce this word?

Tatoeba

这意外是何时发生的?

Zhè yìwài shì héshí fāshēng de?

When did the accident take place?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced fā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 发 (fā) mean in Chinese?
发 (fā) primarily means "to send out." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #47 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 发 have?
发 is written with 5 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 发?
The radical associated with 发 is 又 (again). This radical appears in many characters related to again.
What are the components of 发?
发 is composed of: 又 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 发?
Common words with 发 include: 发生 (fā shēng, "to happen"); 发现 (fā xiàn, "to notice"); 头发 (tóu fa, "hair (on the head)"); 发誓 (fā shì, "to vow"); 出发 (chū fā, "to set off"). There are over 127 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 发 (fā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation fā: 法 (law, method), 罚 (to punish), 乏 (short of), 伐 (to cut down), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 发 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 发 and the traditional form is 發.

Practice writing 发 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.