狠 (hěn): ruthless, fierce, ferocious, determined, resolute, to harden (one's heart)
狠 (hěn) is a Chinese character meaning “ruthless.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 犭 (semantic) and 艮 (phonetic). It ranks #1642 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 狠 dog. Its radical form 犭 (dog) appears in many related characters such as 狗 (gǒu, dog), 猫 (māo, cat (CL:隻|只[zhi1])), 状 (zhuàng, (bound form) form).
Definitions
- ruthless
- fierce
- ferocious
- determined
- resolute
- to harden (one's heart)
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 狠 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 狠狠 | hěn hěn | resolutely |
| 凶狠 | xiōng hěn | variant of 凶狠[xiong1 hen3] |
| 狠心 | hěn xīn | callous |
| 狠毒 | hěn dú | vicious |
| 心狠手辣 | xīn hěn shǒu là | (idiom) vicious |
| 恶狠狠 | è hěn hěn | very fierce |
| 狠命 | hěn mìng | exerting all one's strength |
| 下狠心 | xià hěn xīn | to resolve (to do sth) |
| 算你狠 | suàn nǐ hěn | you got me! |
| 狠巴巴 | hěn bā bā | very fierce |
| 狠绝 | hěn jué | ruthless |
| 恶狠 | è hěn | fierce and vicious |
| 狠劲 | hěn jìn | to exert all one's force |
狠 appears in 13 compound words: 54 as the first character, 23 as the last, and 23 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 狠 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
学习狠字需要反复练习，才能写得工整。
xué xí hěn zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .
Mastering the character "狠" requires repeated practice to write it neatly.
未沽货都要交税?荷兰“空手抽白刃”狠征 36% 增值税 激走高净值富豪资金逃...
wèi gū huò dōu yāo jiāo shuì ? hé lán kōng shǒu chōu bái 刃 hěn zhēng 3 6 zēng zhí shuì jī zǒu gāo jìng zhí fù háo zī jīn táo . . .
Do you have to pay taxes before selling? The Netherlands "empty-handed" severely levied 36% VAT to drive away the funds of high-net-worth riches...
林智坚接任新职 名医狠酸:12亿球场废了还能平步青云?
lín zhì jiān jiē rèn xīn zhí míng yī hěn suān : 1 2 yì qiú chǎng fèi le hái néng píng bù qīng yún ?
Lin Zhijian took over the new position, and the famous doctor was ruthless: 1.2 billion stadiums can still rise to prominence?
黄侦琳酒驾不退选?Cheap掀她底狠酸:这女士还挺戒严
huáng zhēn 琳 jiǔ jià bù tuì xuǎn ? C h e a p xiān tā de hěn suān : zhè nǚ shì hái tǐng jiè yán
Huang Jianlin drunk driving does not withdraw from the election? Cheap lifted her bottom and soured: This lady is quite under martial law
...关税被驳回后川普警告他国:耍花样将面临更狠制裁
. . . guān shuì bèi bó huí hòu chuān pǔ jǐng gào tā guó : shuǎ huā yàng jiāng miàn lín gēng hěn zhì cái
... After the tariffs were rejected, Trump warned other countries that they would face harsher sanctions if they played tricks
柏林影展得奖名单/得奖者狠呛政府“以色列的共犯” 《坠后真相》女星...
bǎi lín yǐng zhǎn dé jiǎng míng dān dé jiǎng zhě hěn qiàng zhèng fǔ yǐ sè liè de gòng fàn zhuì hòu zhēn xiāng nǚ xīng . . .
Berlin Film Festival Winners List/Winners Choke on the Government "Israel's Accomplices" "The Truth After the Fall" Actress...
老师把学生狠狠地骂了一顿。
Lǎoshī bǎ xuésheng hěnhěn de mà le yī dùn.
The teacher scolded his students severely.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 狠 (hěn) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 狠 and 根?
How many strokes does 狠 have?
What is the radical of 狠?
What are the components of 狠?
What are common words containing 狠?
What characters sound the same as 狠 (hěn)?
Is 狠 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 狠 with real-time feedback
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