瓜 (guā): melon, gourd, squash, (slang) a piece of gossip

瓜 (guā) is a Chinese character meaning “melon.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 厶 (structural). It ranks #1810 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, 瓜 vines growing with a melon at their base. Its radical form 瓜 (melon) appears in many related characters such as 瓣 (bàn, petal).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. melon
  2. gourd
  3. squash
  4. (slang) a piece of gossip

Etymology & Origin

瓜

pictographicVines growing with a melon at their base

Components:厶structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 瓜

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
西瓜nounxī guāwatermelon3
黄瓜nounhuáng guācucumber5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
傻瓜nounshǎ guāidiot
南瓜nounnán guāpumpkin
瓜葛nounguā géconnection
尼加拉瓜proper-nounní jiā lā guāNicaragua
脑瓜nounnǎo guāskull
顺藤摸瓜phraseshùn téng mō guālit. to follow the vine to get to the melon
木瓜nounmù guāpapaya (Carica papaya)
甜瓜nountián guāmuskmelon
哈密瓜nounhā mì guāHami melon (a variety of muskmelon)
酸黄瓜nounsuān huáng guāpickle
苦瓜nounkǔ guābitter melon (bitter gourd, balsam pear, balsam apple, leprosy gourd, bitter cucumber)
冬瓜noundōng guāwax gourd (Cucurbitaceae, Benincasa hispida)
瓜分verbguā fēnto partition
厄瓜多尔proper-nounè guā duō ěrEcuador
瓜子nounguā zǐmelon seed
100
Total compounds
24
As first character
52
As last character
24
As middle character

瓜 appears in 100 compound words: 24 as the first character, 52 as the last, and 24 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 瓜 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

傻shǎ
0.6353,285 co-occurrences
厄è
0.5765,594 co-occurrences
拉lā
0.48212,846 co-occurrences
甜tián
0.451946 co-occurrences
麻má
0.4381,676 co-occurrences
尼ní
0.4376,200 co-occurrences
刨bào
0.43482 co-occurrences
籽zǐ
0.427148 co-occurrences
蜜mì
0.420696 co-occurrences
汁zhī
0.416356 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (16)

安提瓜岛Āntíguā DǎoHSK 6+

Antigua (the largest island of the nation of Antigua and Barbuda, in the Caribbean)

厄瓜多尔Èguāduō'ěrHSK 7+

Ecuador (a country in South America)

瓜地马拉GuādìmǎlāHSK 4+

Guatemala (a country in northern Central America)

瓜熟蒂落guāshúdìluòHSK 7+

things naturally succeed once a suitable time has arrived and conditions are met

phrase
瓜田李下guātiánlǐxiàHSK 6+

a position that invites suspicion; suspicious circumstances or surroundings

phrase
滚瓜烂熟gǔnguālànshúHSK 6+

by heart; (recite, etc.) fluently

phrase
滚瓜溜圆gǔn guā liū yuánHSK 7+

(of animals) round and fat

phrase
尼加拉瓜NíjiālāguāHSK 7+

Nicaragua (a country in Central America)

傻瓜相机shǎguā xiàngjīHSK 5+

point-and-shoot camera

noun
顺藤摸瓜shùnténgmōguāHSK 7+

to follow the clues to get to the bottom of a matter or to thoroughly inquire into a matter

phrase
歪瓜劣枣wāiguālièzǎoHSK 7+

alternative form of 歪瓜裂棗 /歪瓜裂枣 (wāiguālièzǎo)

phrase
歪瓜裂枣wāiguālièzǎoHSK 7+

a group of unattractive people (or objects)

phrase

Showing 12 of 16 idioms containing 瓜.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们瓜字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men guā zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "瓜."

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

火鹤花田改种洋香瓜 父亲鼓励8年级生姊妹“不务正业”

huǒ hè huā tián gǎi zhǒng yáng xiāng guā fù qīn gǔ lì 8 nián jí shēng 姊 mèi bù wù zhèng yè

Fire Crane Flower Field Changed to Cantaloupe Father Encouraged 8th Grade Sisters to "Not Do Their Job"

Investing 香港Feb 2026

哥伦比亚对厄瓜多商品征收30%关税 贸易争端升级

gē lún bǐ yà duì è guā duō shāng pǐn zhēng shōu 3 0 guān shuì mào yì zhēng duān shēng jí

Colombia imposes 30% tariff on Ecuadorian goods as trade dispute escalates

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

...身水耕农场 吉新文英成功种出日本网纹哈密瓜

. . . shēn shuǐ gēng nóng chǎng jí xīn wén yīng chéng gōng zhǒng chū rì běn wǎng wén hā mì guā

... Hydroponic farm Ji Xin Wenying successfully planted Japanese reticulated cantaloupe

TvbsFeb 2026

胡瓜大年初六当财神爷! 9999元高额奖金大...

hú guā dà nián chū liù dāng cái shén yé ! 9 9 9 9 yuán gāo é jiǎng jīn dà . . .

Hugua is the god of wealth on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year! 9999 yuan high bonus...

LtnFeb 2026

大年初六发钱了!胡瓜豪撒“9999元”大红包 民众掷圣筊手软...

dà nián chū liù fā qián le ! hú guā háo sā 9 9 9 9 yuán dà hóng bāo mín zhòng zhì shèng 筊 shǒu ruǎn . . .

The money was paid on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year! Hugua Haosa "9999 yuan" big red envelope The people threw the holy bamboo flute softly...

Tatoeba

种瓜得瓜,种豆得豆。

Zhòng guā dé guā, zhòng dòu dé dòu.

You reap what you sow.

Tatoeba

你认为我把自己当傻瓜?

Nǐ rènwéi wǒ bǎ zìjǐ dāng shǎguā?

Do you think I think of myself as an idiot?

Tatoeba

你买了一个哈密瓜?

Nǐ mǎi le yī gè hāmìguā?

Have you bought a cantaloupe?

Tatoeba

您真的点了地瓜片来搭配素食汉堡吗?

Nín zhēn de diǎn le dìguā piàn lái dāpèi sùshí hànbǎo ma?

Did you really order sweet potato fries to go with your veggie burger?

Character Family

瓜 Radical Family — Characters sharing the melon radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced guā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 瓜 (guā) mean in Chinese?
瓜 (guā) primarily means "melon." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1810 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 瓜 have?
瓜 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 瓜?
The radical associated with 瓜 is 瓜 (melon). This radical appears in many characters related to melon.
What are the components of 瓜?
瓜 is composed of: 厶 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 瓜?
Common words with 瓜 include: 傻瓜 (shǎ guā, "idiot"); 南瓜 (nán guā, "pumpkin"); 瓜葛 (guā gé, "connection"); 西瓜 (xī guā, "watermelon"); 黄瓜 (huáng guā, "cucumber"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 瓜 (guā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation guā: 挂 (to hang), 刮 (to scrape), 寡 (few, widow), 卦 (divinatory diagram). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 瓜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 瓜 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 瓜 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.