湖 (hú): lake
湖 (hú) is a Chinese character meaning “lake.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 胡 (phonetic). It ranks #918 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 湖 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).
Definitions
- lake
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 湖 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 湖边noun | hú biān | lakeside |
| 江湖noun | jiāng hú | rivers and lakes |
| 盐湖城proper-noun | yán hú chéng | Salt Lake City, capital of Utah |
| 湖泊noun | hú pō | lake |
| 湖畔noun | hú pàn | lakeside |
| 湖南proper-noun | hú nán | see 湖南省 |
| 天鹅湖 | tiān é hú | Swan Lake |
| 老江湖noun | lǎo jiāng hú | a much-travelled person, well acquainted with the ways of the world |
| 湖滨noun | hú bīn | lake front |
| 西湖proper-noun | xī hú | West Lake in Hangzhou 杭州, Zhejiang |
| 东湖proper-noun | dōng hú | see 東湖區|东湖区 |
| 伊利湖proper-noun | yī lì hú | Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes 五大湖 |
| 走江湖 | zǒu jiāng hú | to travel around the country (as itinerant peddler or entertainer) |
| 千岛湖proper-noun | qiān dǎo hú | Qiandao Lake in Zhejiang, aka Xin'an River Reservoir, created as part of a large hydroelectric project in 1959 |
| 淡水湖noun | dàn shuǐ hú | freshwater lake |
湖 appears in 101 compound words: 22 as the first character, 59 as the last, and 19 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 湖 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (12)
scenic lakes and mountain (idiom); beautiful lake and mountain landscape
scenic lakes and mountain (idiom); beautiful lake and mountain landscape
Example Sentences
由于连续几个月的干旱，这个湖泊的水位下降了三米多，露出了大片的湖床。
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.
8名中国游客在贝加尔湖落水,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
我爱湘潭我的家·新春走基层丨湖南裕能: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:
一辆载有8名中国游客的汽车在俄贝加尔湖沉没
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
马年迎新!湖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!
湖北文旅集团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...
在这个湖上滑冰安全吗？
Zài zhège hú shàng huábīng ānquán ma?
Is it safe to skate on this lake?
天冷得足以让湖结冰。
Tiān lěng de zúyǐ ràng hú jiébīng.
The weather was so cold that the lake froze over.
巨大的柱子遮住了视线，让人看不到湖。
Jùdà de zhùzi zhēzhù le shìxiàn, ràng rén kàn bù dào hú.
A large pillar obstructs the view of the lake.
我们尽情在湖里游泳。
Wǒmen jìnqíng zài hú lǐ yóuyǒng.
We enjoyed swimming in the lake.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 湖 (hú) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 湖 have?
What is the radical of 湖?
What are the components of 湖?
What are common words containing 湖?
What characters sound the same as 湖 (hú)?
Is 湖 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 湖 with real-time feedback
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