(hòu): thick, deep or profound, kind

(hòu) is a Chinese character meaning “thick.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical (cliff). It ranks #1229 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, sunlight 日 and children 子 in a building 厂. Its radical form (cliff) appears in many related characters such as (yuán, former), (hǎn, "cliff" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 27), occurring in 原, 历, 压 etc), (, to experience).

Native pronunciation
HSK 4Radical: cliff9 strokesFrequency #1229

Definitions

  1. thick
  2. deep or profound
  3. kind

Etymology & Origin

ideographicSunlight 日 and children 子 in a building 厂

Decomposition: ⿸⿸厂日子 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
adjectiveshēn hòudeep5
adjectivenóng hòudense6
nounhòu dùthickness5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
fēng hòugenerous
hòu daokind and honest
hòu zhòngthick
hòu liǎn píbrazen
wú kě hòu fēisee 未可厚非[wei4 ke3 hou4 fei1]
yōu hòugenerous, liberal (pay, compensation)
hòu wànggreat hopes
xióng hòusubstantial
hòu shithick
hòu àito show great affection and care
kuān hòutolerant
hòu lǐgenerous gifts
féi hòuplump
hún hòusimple and honest
chún hòumellow and rich
74
Total compounds
41
As first character
36
As last character
23
As middle character

appears in 74 compound words: 41 as the first character, 36 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

nóng
0.5929,738 co-occurrences
hān
0.5411,770 co-occurrences
shēn
0.48525,880 co-occurrences
0.4828,370 co-occurrences
0.4533,996 co-occurrences
0.44144,250 co-occurrences
chún
0.4401,884 co-occurrences
fēng
0.4365,046 co-occurrences
báo
0.4252,988 co-occurrences
0.4181,302 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

bēi cí hòu bìHSK 7+

humble expression for generous donation

phrase
bēi cí hòu lǐHSK 7+

humble expression for generous gift

phrase
hòucǐbóbǐHSK 5+

to favour one and slight the other

verb
hòudézàiwùHSK 6+

the virtuous ones will have great responsibility

phrase
hòugǔbójīnHSK 5+

to set great store by the past but look down on the present

phrase
hòujībófāHSK 5+

to gradually acquire knowledge, and make use of it when needed; good preparation is the key to success

phrase
hòuyánwúchǐHSK 7+

utterly shameless

phrase
shēnqínghòuyìHSK 4+

deep friendship

phrase
wèi kě hòu fēiHSK 5+

not to be censured too strictly (idiom); not altogether inexcusable; understandable

phrase
wúkěhòufēiHSK 4+

not altogether inexcusable; hard to blame; reasonable; understandable

phrase
gāoguānhòulùHSK 6+

high position and handsome salary; high posts with salaries to match

phrase

Showing 11 of 12 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这本书很,有三百多页,需要花时间慢慢读。

Zhè běn shū hěn hòu, yǒu sān bǎi duō yè, xūyào huā shíjiān mànman dú.

This book is very thick, with over three hundred pages; it takes time to read slowly.

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

...典赛/不想再当悲剧主角 “南韩队长”李政目标9连胜重现荣耀

. . . diǎn sài bù xiǎng zài dāng bēi jù zhǔ jiǎo nán hán duì cháng lǐ zhèng hòu mù biāo 9 lián shèng chóng xiàn róng yào

... Classic/I don't want to be the protagonist of the tragedy again "South Korean captain" Lee Jung-hoo aims to win 9 consecutive victories to regain glory

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...返公司逗利市!新同事2日后即辞职 网民斥脸皮:好肉酸

. . . fǎn gōng sī dòu lì shì ! xīn tóng shì 2 rì hòu jí cí zhí wǎng mín chì hòu liǎn pí : hǎo ròu suān

... Back to the company to make a profit! The new colleague resigned after 2 days, and netizens reprimanded him for being cheeky: so sour

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

...任总召!赖清德致上最高敬意:为民主留下深基础

. . . rèn zǒng zhào ! lài qīng dé zhì shàng zuì gāo jìng yì : wéi mín zhǔ liú xià shēn hòu jī chǔ

... Ren Zongzhao! Lai Qingde paid the highest respect: leave a deep foundation for democracy

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

英智庫IISS年度軍力報告「近550頁」 稱打貪對共軍能力衝擊有限

yīng zhì 庫 nián dù 軍 lì 報 gào hòu jìn 頁 稱 dǎ 貪 對 gòng 軍 néng lì 衝 擊 yǒu xiàn

The British think tank IISS annual military strength report is "nearly 550 pages thick", saying that the impact of cracking down on corruption on the communist army's capabilities is limited

百度新闻Feb 2026

预见金马|财通证券资管马晓立:植金融为民底色,以..

yù jiàn jīn mǎ cái tōng zhèng quàn zī guǎn mǎ xiǎo lì hòu zhí jīn róng wéi mín de sè , yǐ . .

Forecasting the Golden Horse | Caitong Securities Asset Management's Ma Xiaoli: Deepening the Foundation of Finance for the People, With...

Tatoeba

地上覆盖着积雪,冻成了又硬又的壳。

Dìshang fùgài zhe jīxuě, dòng chéngle yòu yìng yòu hòu de qiào.

The snow lay on the ground, frozen into a thick, hard crust.

Tatoeba

事故似乎和的积雪有关。

Shìgù sìhū hé hòu hòu de jīxuě yǒuguān.

The accident seemed to have something to do with the heavy snow.

Tatoeba

今天早上下霜了。

Jīntiān zǎoshang xià hòu shuāng le.

We had a heavy frost this morning.

Tatoeba

我受够了他的颜无耻。

Wǒ shòugòu le tā de hòuyánwúchǐ.

I've had quite enough of his impudence.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced hòu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 厚 (hòu) mean in Chinese?
厚 (hòu) primarily means "thick." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #1229 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 厚 and 细?
厚 (hòu) and 细 (xì) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 厚 (thick) vs 细 (thin).
How many strokes does 厚 have?
厚 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 厚?
The radical associated with 厚 is 厂 (cliff). This radical appears in many characters related to cliff.
What are common words containing 厚?
Common words with 厚 include: 丰厚 (fēng hòu, "generous"); 厚道 (hòu dao, "kind and honest"); 深厚 (shēn hòu, "deep"); 厚重 (hòu zhòng, "thick"); 厚脸皮 (hòu liǎn pí, "brazen"). There are over 74 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 厚 (hòu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation hòu: 喉 (throat), 猴 (monkey), 吼 (to roar), 后 (back), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 厚 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 厚 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.