呼 (hū): to call, to cry, to shout
呼 (hū) is a Chinese character meaning “to call.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 乎 (phonetic). It ranks #843 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 呼 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).
Definitions
- to call
- to cry
- to shout
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 呼 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 呼
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 呼吸verb | hū xī | to breathe | 5 |
| 称呼verb/noun | chēng hu | to call | 6 |
| 打招呼verb | dǎ zhāo hu | to greet sb by word or action | 4 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 招呼verb | zhāo hu | to call out to |
| 呼叫verb | hū jiào | to shout |
| 欢呼verb | huān hū | to cheer for |
| 深呼吸 | shēn hū xī | to take a deep breath |
| 呼唤verb | hū huàn | to call out (a name etc) |
| 呜呼interjection | wū hū | alas |
| 呼吁verb | hū yù | to call on (sb to do sth) |
| 高呼verb | gāo hū | to shout loudly |
| 呼喊verb | hū hǎn | to shout (slogans etc) |
| 呼救verb | hū jiù | to call for help |
| 呼呼noun | hū hū | (onom.) sound of the wind or the breathing of sb who is sound asleep |
| 传呼verb | chuán hū | to notify sb of a call |
| 呼吸器noun | hū xī qì | (medicine) ventilator |
| 人工呼吸noun | rén gōng hū xī | artificial respiration (medicine) |
| 呼声noun | hū shēng | a shout |
呼 appears in 100 compound words: 61 as the first character, 19 as the last, and 20 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 呼 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (21)
Hohhot (a prefecture-level city, the provincial capital of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, China)
Hulunbuir (a prefecture-level city and former league in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, China)
Showing 12 of 21 idioms containing 呼.
Example Sentences
请大家呼吁更多的人参与到环保行动中来。
Qǐng dàjiā hūyù gèng duō de rén cānyù dào huánbǎo xíngdòng zhōng lái.
Please call on more people to participate in environmental protection actions.
六旬妇认选举期间转贴呼吁杯葛选举贴文 判囚2月准缓刑1年半
liù xún fù rèn xuǎn jǔ qī jiān zhuǎn tiē hū xū bēi 葛 xuǎn jǔ tiē wén pàn qiú 2 yuè zhǔn huǎn xíng 1 nián bàn
A sixty-year-old woman who posted a call for a boycott of the election during the election was sentenced to two months in prison and given a one-and-a-half year probation
北市民权大桥2人连同工程车坠河 1人无呼吸心跳
běi shì mín quán dà qiáo 2 rén lián tóng gōng chéng chē zhuì hé 1 rén wú hū xī xīn tiào
2 people fell into the river with an engineering vehicle on the Beimin Civil Rights Bridge, and 1 person had no breathing or heartbeat
...机派利市给游客!台女生来港看新年烟花感动呼:这趟很难忘
. . . jī pài lì shì gěi yóu kè ! tái nǚ shēng lái gǎng kàn xīn nián yān huā gǎn dòng hū : zhè tāng hěn nán wàng
... Send the city to tourists! Taiwanese girls came to Hong Kong to watch the New Year's fireworks and were moved: This trip is unforgettable
安理会就利比亚局势展开磋商 中方呼吁和平解决政治分..
ān lǐ huì jiù lì bǐ yà jú shì zhǎn kāi cuō shāng zhōng fāng hū xū hé píng xiè jué zhèng zhì fēn . .
The Security Council held consultations on the situation in Libya, and China called for a peaceful solution to the politi...
洛杉矶奥组委主席涉爱泼斯坦案,市长呼吁其辞职
洛 杉 矶 ào zǔ wěi zhǔ xí shè ài pō sī tǎn àn , shì cháng hū xū qí cí zhí
Mayor calls for resignation of L.A. Olympic chairman in Epstein case.
你能屏住呼吸多久?
Nǐ néng bīng zhù hūxī duōjiǔ?
How long can you hold your breath?
你曾经用德语和那棵小桃树打过招呼吗?
Nǐ céngjīng yòng Déyǔ hé nà kē xiǎo táoshù dǎ guòzhāo hū ma?
Have you ever greeted the small peach tree in German?
话到舌尖,呼之欲出
Huà dào shéjiān, hūzhīyùchū
It's on the tip of my tongue.
我的鼻子没办法呼吸了。
Wǒ de bízi méibànfǎ hūxī le.
I can't breathe through my nose.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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What characters sound the same as 呼 (hū)?
Is 呼 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 呼 with real-time feedback
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