侯 (Hóu): surname Hou, nobleman, high official

侯 (Hóu) is a Chinese character meaning “surname hou.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical 亻 (person). It ranks #2827 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 亻 person9 strokesFrequency #2827

Definitions

  1. surname Hou
  2. nobleman
  3. high official

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
侯爵hóu juémarquis
萨达姆·侯赛因sà dá mǔ hóu sài yīnSaddam Hussein
侯赛因hóu sài yīnHusain or Hussein (name)
诸侯zhū hóudukes or princes who rule a part of the country under the emperor
王侯wáng hóuaristocracy
夏侯xià hóutwo-character surname Xiahou
侯门hóu ménnoble house
侯门似海hóu mén sì hǎilit. the gate of a noble house is like the sea (idiom)
侯马市hóu mǎ shìHouma, a county-level city in Linfen City 臨汾市|临汾市[Lin2 fen2 Shi4], Shanxi
胜者王侯败者寇shèng zhě wáng hóu bài zhě kòuthe winners become princes and marquises
胜者王侯败者贼shèng zhě wáng hóu bài zhě zéisee 勝者王侯敗者寇|胜者王侯败者寇[sheng4 zhe3 wang2 hou2 bai4 zhe3 kou4]
侯景之乱hóu jǐng zhī luànrebellion against Liang of the Southern Dynasties 南朝梁 in 548
挟天子以令诸侯xié tiān zǐ yǐ lìng zhū hóu(expr.) hold the feudal overlord and you control his vassals
武侯区wǔ hóu qūWuhou district of Chengdu city 成都市[Cheng2 du1 shi4], Sichuan
闽侯mǐn hòusee 閩侯縣|闽侯县[Min3 hou4 Xian4]
26
Total compounds
27
As first character
38
As last character
35
As middle character

侯 appears in 26 compound words: 27 as the first character, 38 as the last, and 35 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

侯景之乱hóu jǐng zhī luànHSK 4+

rebellion against Liang of the Southern Dynasties 南朝梁 in 548

phrase

Showing 1 of 2 idioms containing 侯.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这位老侯虽然年过八旬，但身体依然硬朗。

zhè wèi lǎo Hóu suī rán nián guò bā xún , dàn shēn tǐ yī rán yìng lǎng .

Although Mr. Hou is over eighty, he is still in good health.

Vietnam+Feb 2026

国会代表和人民议会代表选举:宣光省委书记侯阿令谈祖国边疆“山河盛会”筹备工作

guó huì dài biǎo hé rén mín yì huì dài biǎo xuǎn jǔ : xuān guāng shěng wěi shū jì Hóu ā lìng tán zǔ guó biān jiāng shān hé shèng huì chóu bèi gōng zuò

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

侯友宜谈免费营养午餐、育儿减工时 “须审慎...

Hóu yǒu yí tán miǎn fèi yíng yǎng wǔ cān , yù ér jiǎn gōng shí xū shěn shèn . . .

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

侯友宜行动治理聚焦三莺线噪音 捷运局将采分...

Hóu yǒu yí háng dòng zhì lǐ jù jiāo sān yīng xiàn zào yīn jié yùn jú jiāng cǎi fēn . . .

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

东西问·马年说马丨赵艺博:海昏侯墓中的“马蹄金”缘何而来?

dōng xī wèn mǎ nián shuō mǎ 丨 zhào yì bó : hǎi hūn Hóu mù zhōng de mǎ 蹄 jīn yuán hé ér lái ?

百度新闻Feb 2026

春节不忘训练!侯友宜化身“一日骑警”,体验马术训练..

chūn jié bù wàng xùn liàn ! Hóu yǒu yí huà shēn yī rì qí jǐng , tǐ yàn mǎ shù xùn liàn . .

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 侯 (Hóu) mean in Chinese?
侯 (Hóu) primarily means "surname hou." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2827 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 侯 and 低?
侯 (Hóu) and 低 (dī) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 侯 (high) vs 低 (low).
How many strokes does 侯 have?
侯 is written with 9 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 侯?
The radical associated with 侯 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are common words containing 侯?
Common words with 侯 include: 侯爵 (hóu jué, "marquis"); 萨达姆·侯赛因 (sà dá mǔ hóu sài yīn, "Saddam Hussein"); 侯赛因 (hóu sài yīn, "Husain or Hussein (name)"); 诸侯 (zhū hóu, "dukes or princes who rule a part of the country under the emperor"); 王侯 (wáng hóu, "aristocracy"). There are over 26 compound words containing this character.
Is 侯 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 侯 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 侯 with real-time feedback

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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.