弧 (hú): arc

弧 (hú) is a Chinese character meaning “arc.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 弓 (semantic) and 瓜 (phonetic). It ranks #2777 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 弧 bow. Its radical form 弓 (bow) appears in many related characters such as 弟 (dì, younger brother), 张 (zhāng, to open up), 强 (qiáng, stubborn).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 弓 bow8 strokesFrequency #2777弓 semantic瓜 phonetic

Definitions

  1. arc

Etymology & Origin

弧

pictophoneticbow

Decomposition: ⿰弓瓜 (layout: left-right)

Components:弓semantic瓜phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
弧线hú xiànarc
弧度hú dùradian
电弧diàn húelectric arc
弧形hú xíngcurve
反射弧fǎn shè húreflex arc
圆弧yuán húarc (segment of a circle)
弧光hú guāngarc light
弧长参数hú cháng cān shùparametrization by arc length (of a space curve)
弧线长hú xiàn chángarc length
大括弧dà kuò húbraces
弧光灯hú guāng dēngarc lamp
群岛弧qún dǎo húisland arc (geology)
弧长hú chángarc length (the length of a curve segment)
霍乱弧菌huò luàn hú jūncholera bacterium (Vibrio cholerae)
余弧yú húcomplementary arc
19
Total compounds
47
As first character
42
As last character
11
As middle character

弧 appears in 19 compound words: 47 as the first character, 42 as the last, and 11 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 弧 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

焊hàn
0.518810 co-occurrences
形xíng
0.50414,610 co-occurrences
圆yuán
0.4952,430 co-occurrences
矢shǐ
0.4591,206 co-occurrences
菌jūn
0.4581,770 co-occurrences
呈chéng
0.4572,604 co-occurrences
秒miǎo
0.4271,704 co-occurrences
拱gǒng
0.411576 co-occurrences
弯wān
0.411300 co-occurrences
蓝lán
0.406834 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

霍乱弧菌huòluàn hújūnHSK 7+

Vibrio cholerae

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好弧字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo hú zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write the character "弧" correctly, you need to master the proper stroke order.

東森新聞Feb 2026

医起看/老翁处理海鲜感染海洋弧菌 截肢保住一命

yī qǐ kàn lǎo wēng chǔ lǐ hǎi xiān gǎn rǎn hǎi yáng hú jūn jié zhī bǎo zhù yī mìng

The old man treated seafood infected with Vibrio marine and amputated his limb to save his life

Character Family

弓 Radical Family — Characters sharing the bow radical

弛chí弹dàn弥mí强qiáng弦xián张zhāng弟dì弓gōng弘hóng弱ruò

Related Characters

弟dì张zhāng强qiáng引yǐn弯wān弱ruò弹dàn弓gōng弘hóng弛chí

Homophones — Characters pronounced hú

狐hú乎hū呼hū忽hū胡hú湖hú糊hú虎hǔ互hù

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 弧 (hú) mean in Chinese?
弧 (hú) primarily means "arc." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2777 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 弧 and 孤?
弧 (hú) and 孤 (gū) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 弓 vs 子 (same 瓜 component).
How many strokes does 弧 have?
弧 is written with 8 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 弧?
The radical associated with 弧 is 弓 (bow). This radical appears in many characters related to bow.
What are the components of 弧?
弧 is composed of: 弓 (semantic), 瓜 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰弓瓜 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 弧?
Common words with 弧 include: 弧线 (hú xiàn, "arc"); 弧度 (hú dù, "radian"); 电弧 (diàn hú, "electric arc"); 弧形 (hú xíng, "curve"); 反射弧 (fǎn shè hú, "reflex arc"). There are over 19 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 弧 (hú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation hú: 狐 (fox), 乎 ((classical particle similar to 於|于) in), 呼 (to call), 忽 (to neglect), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 弧 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 弧 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 弧 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

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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.