哼 (hēng): to groan, to snort, to hum

哼 (hēng) is a Chinese character meaning “to groan.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 亨 (phonetic). It ranks #1939 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 哼 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).

Spoken pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 口 mouth10 strokesFrequency #1939口 semantic 亨 phonetic

Definitions

to groan
to snort
to hum

Etymology & Origin

哼

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿰口亨 (layout: left-right)

Components:口semantic 亨phonetic

Stroke Order

Practice writing 哼 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
哼唱verb	hēng chàng	to hum
气哼哼	qì hēng hēng	enraged
哼唧verb	hēng ji	whisper
哼儿哈儿	hēng r hā r	to hem and haw (loanword)
哼声	hēng shēng	hum
哼哧	hēng chī	to puff hard (e.g. after running)
哼哼唧唧	hēng hēng jī jī	whining
嗯哼interjection	en hēng	uh-huh

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

哼 appears in 8 compound words: 75 as the first character, 13 as the last, and 13 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 哼 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

嗯ēn

0.663100 co-occurrences

唱chàng

0.484786 co-occurrences

歌gē

0.374288 co-occurrences

著zhù

0.352214 co-occurrences

句jù

0.33630 co-occurrences

哈hā

0.33286 co-occurrences

鼻bí

0.32916 co-occurrences

语yǔ

0.32894 co-occurrences

旋xuán

0.32742 co-occurrences

猪zhū

0.31810 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

哼儿哈儿hēng r hā rHSK 7+

to hem and haw (loanword)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他哼才很好，能言善辩，是个出色的律师。

tā hēng cái hěn hǎo , néng yán shàn biàn , shì gě chū sè de lǜ shī .

He's quite the charmer, a smooth talker, and an outstanding lawyer.

中国新闻网·体育Oct 2026

一起哼唱山歌、跳舞，各种各样趣味十足的小故事接连发生，彼此之间没有一丝陌生感。

yī qǐ hēng chàng shān gē , tiào wǔ , gè zhǒng gè yàng qù wèi shí zú de xiǎo gù shì jiē lián fā shēng , bǐ cǐ zhī jiān méi yǒu yī sī mò shēng gǎn .

We sang mountain songs and danced together, and all sorts of amusing little stories unfolded one after another—there wasn’t a trace of awkwardness between us.

少数派Apr 2026

开车时嚼口香糖、吹口哨、哼歌，这类动作通常干扰较小，可以做。

kāi chē shí jiáo kǒu xiāng táng , chuī kǒu shào , hēng gē , zhè lèi dòng zuò tōng cháng gān rǎo jiào xiǎo , kě yǐ zuò .

Chewing gum, whistling, or humming while driving—these actions usually cause minimal distraction and are acceptable.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 哼 (hēng) mean in Chinese?

哼 (hēng) primarily means "to groan." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1939 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 哼 and 烹?

哼 (hēng) and 烹 (pēng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 口 vs 火 (same 亨 component).

How many strokes does 哼 have?

哼 is written with 10 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 哼?

The radical associated with 哼 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.

What are the components of 哼?

哼 is composed of: 口 (semantic), 亨 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰口亨 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 哼?

Common words with 哼 include: 哼唱 (hēng chàng, "to hum"); 气哼哼 (qì hēng hēng, "enraged"); 哼唧 (hēng ji, "whisper"); 哼儿哈儿 (hēng r hā r, "to hem and haw (loanword)"); 哼声 (hēng shēng, "hum"). There are over 8 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 哼 (hēng)?

Several characters share the pronunciation hēng: 横 (horizontal), 衡 (to weigh), 恒 (permanent). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 哼 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 哼 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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