(): lake

() is a Chinese character meaning “lake.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #918 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. lake

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵胡 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
hú biānlakeside
jiāng húrivers and lakes
hú pōlake
hú pànlakeside
dà húDahu or Tahu township in Miaoli county 苗栗縣|苗栗县[Miao2 li4 xian4], northwest Taiwan
hú nánsee 湖南省[Hu2 nan2 Sheng3]
lǎo jiāng húa much-travelled person, well acquainted with the ways of the world
hú bīnlake front
西xī húXihu or West lake (place name)
dōng húsee 東湖區|东湖区[Dong1 hu2 Qu1]
xiè húerroneous written form of 潟湖[xi4 hu2]
dàn shuǐ húfreshwater lake
yán húsalt lake
hú nán shěngHunan Province, capital Changsha 長沙市|长沙市[Chang2 sha1 Shi4] (abbr. to 湘[Xiang1])
西hú xīHuhsi township in Penghu county 澎湖縣|澎湖县[Peng2 hu2 xian4] (Pescadores Islands), Taiwan
100
Total compounds
24
As first character
58
As last character
18
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 24 as the first character, 58 as the last, and 18 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.

péng
0.71162,822 co-occurrences
0.67886,777 co-occurrences
nán
0.546270,492 co-occurrences
0.54011 co-occurrences
shěng
0.538151,242 co-occurrences
běi
0.492174,012 co-occurrences
pàn
0.48414,340 co-occurrences
bīn
0.45611,292 co-occurrences
jiāng
0.44759,856 co-occurrences
xiè
0.4381,266 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (11)

Āndàlüè HúHSK 6+

Ontario, Lake Ontario (a large lake in North America, one of the Great Lakes)

Bèijiā'ěr HúHSK 5+

Lake Baikal (a large freshwater lake in Siberia, Russia)

bó sī téng húHSK 7+

Bosten Lake in Xinjiang

phrase
jiānghú piànziHSK 5+

charlatan; swindler; itinerant con-man

noun
jiāng hú yì rénHSK 5+

itinerant entertainer

phrase
làng jì jiāng húHSK 5+

to roam far and wide; to drift with the wind

phrase
Mìxiēgēn HúHSK 6+

Lake Michigan

Pénghú LièdǎoHSK 7+

Pescadores

Pénghú QúndǎoHSK 7+

Pescadores

Wūlúngǔ HúHSK 7+

Ulungur Lake (a lake in Fuhai, Xinjiang autonomous region, China)

Yīsàikè HúHSK 7+

Issyk Kul (a large endorheic lake in the Tian Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan); Issyk Kul (a region of Kyrgyzstan)

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

由于连续几个月的干旱,这个泊的水位下降了三米多,露出了大片的床。

Yóuyú liánxù jǐ gè yuè de gānhàn, zhè gè húpō de shuǐwèi xiàjiàng le sān mǐ duō, lùchū le dàpiàn de húchuáng.

Due to several consecutive months of drought, the lake's water level has dropped by more than three meters, exposing large areas of lakebed.

百度新闻Feb 2026

8名中国游客在贝加尔落水,目前仅1人获救

8 míng zhōng guó yóu kè zài bèi jiā ěr hú luò shuǐ , mù qián jǐn 1 rén huò jiù

Eight Chinese tourists fell into the water in Lake Baikal, and only one has been rescued

百度新闻Feb 2026

我爱湘潭我的家·新春走基层丨南裕能:600余名职..

wǒ ài 湘 tán wǒ de jiā xīn chūn zǒu jī céng 丨 hú nán yù néng : 6 0 0 yú míng zhí . .

I love Xiangtan My home, New Year to the grassroots丨Hunan Yuneng: more than 600 positions:

百度新闻Feb 2026

一辆载有8名中国游客的汽车在俄贝加尔沉没

yī liàng zài yǒu 8 míng zhōng guó yóu kè de qì chē zài é bèi jiā ěr hú chén méi

A car carrying eight Chinese tourists sank in Lake Baikal

百度新闻Feb 2026

马年迎新!南省妇幼保健院喜迎24名“小骏马”宝宝

mǎ nián yíng xīn ! hú nán shěng fù yòu bǎo jiàn yuàn xǐ yíng míng xiǎo jùn mǎ bǎo bǎo

The Year of the Horse! Hunan Maternal and Child Health Hospital welcomes 24 "Little Stallion" babies!

百度新闻Feb 2026

北文旅集团AI守岁人护新春 科技赋能年味...

hú běi wén lǚ jí tuán shǒu suì rén hù xīn chūn kē jì fù néng nián wèi . . .

Hubei Culture and Tourism Group AI year-keeper to protect the New Year Technology empowers the flavor of the year...

Tatoeba

在这个上滑冰安全吗?

Zài zhège hú shàng huábīng ānquán ma?

Is it safe to skate on this lake?

Tatoeba

天冷得足以让结冰。

Tiān lěng de zúyǐ ràng hú jiébīng.

The weather was so cold that the lake froze over.

Tatoeba

巨大的柱子遮住了视线,让人看不到

Jùdà de zhùzi zhēzhù le shìxiàn, ràng rén kàn bù dào hú.

A large pillar obstructs the view of the lake.

Tatoeba

我们尽情在里游泳。

Wǒmen jìnqíng zài hú lǐ yóuyǒng.

We enjoyed swimming in the lake.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 湖 (hú) mean in Chinese?
湖 (hú) primarily means "lake." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #918 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 湖 have?
湖 is written with 12 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 湖?
The radical associated with 湖 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 湖?
湖 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 胡 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵胡 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 湖?
Common words with 湖 include: 湖边 (hú biān, "lakeside"); 江湖 (jiāng hú, "rivers and lakes"); 湖泊 (hú pō, "lake"); 湖畔 (hú pàn, "lakeside"); 大湖 (dà hú, "Dahu or Tahu township in Miaoli county 苗栗縣|苗栗县[Miao2 li4 xian4], northwest Taiwan"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 湖 (hú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation hú: 糊 (to paste), 蝴 (butterfly (in 蝴蝶)), 乎 ((classical particle similar to 於|于) in), 呼 (to call), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 湖 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 湖 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.