狐 (hú): fox

狐 (hú) is a Chinese character meaning “fox.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 犭 (semantic) and 瓜 (phonetic). It ranks #3076 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 狐 dog. Its radical form 犭 (dog) appears in many related characters such as 狗 (gǒu, dog), 猫 (māo, cat (CL:隻|只[zhi1])), 猜 (cāi, to guess).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 犭 dog8 strokesFrequency #3076犭 semantic瓜 phonetic

Definitions

  1. fox

Etymology & Origin

狐

pictophoneticdog

Decomposition: ⿰犭瓜 (layout: left-right)

Components:犭semantic瓜phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
狐狸hú lifox
狐狸精hú li jīngfox-spirit
狐朋狗友hú péng gǒu yǒua pack of rogues (idiom)
九尾狐jiǔ wěi húnine-tailed fox (mythological creature)
狐臭hú chòubody odor
狐狸尾巴hú li wěi balit. fox's tail (idiom)
老狐狸lǎo hú liold fox
狐假虎威hú jiǎ hǔ wēilit. the fox exploits the tiger's might (idiom)
银狐yín húsilver or black fox (Vulpes alopex argentatus)
火狐huǒ húred panda (Ailurus fulgens)
北极狐běi jí húarctic fox
与狐谋皮yǔ hú móu pí(idiom) to ask sb to act contrary to their own interests (original form of the expression 與虎謀皮|与虎谋皮[yu3 hu3 mou2 pi2])
社鼠城狐shè shǔ chéng húlit. rat in a country shrine, fox on town walls
狐群狗党hú qún gǒu dǎnga skulk of foxes, a pack of dogs (idiom)
令狐德棻líng hú dé fēnLinghu Defen (583-666), Tang dynasty historian, compiler of History of Zhou of the Northern dynasties 周書|周书
33
Total compounds
42
As first character
36
As last character
21
As middle character

狐 appears in 33 compound words: 42 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 21 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 狐 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

狸lí
0.80120,038 co-occurrences
搜sōu
0.60512,426 co-occurrences
妖yāo
0.5424,956 co-occurrences
猴hóu
0.5242,316 co-occurrences
令lìng
0.45910,470 co-occurrences
冲chōng
0.4532,910 co-occurrences
赤chì
0.4493,216 co-occurrences
尾wěi
0.4485,604 co-occurrences
仙xiān
0.4312,598 co-occurrences
廓kuò
0.431558 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

狐假虎威hújiǎhǔwēiHSK 7+

to use powerful connections to intimidate people

phrase
狐朋狗友húpénggǒuyǒuHSK 7+

disreputable friends; evil associates; gang of scoundrels

phrase
狐群狗党húqún-gǒudǎngHSK 7+

a pack of rogues; a gang of scoundrels

phrase
兔死狐悲tùsǐhúbēiHSK 7+

to have sympathy with a like-minded person in distress

phrase
与狐谋皮yǔhúmóupíHSK 7+

synonym of 與虎謀皮 /与虎谋皮 (yǔhǔmóupí)

phrase
篝火狐鸣gōu huǒ hú míngHSK 7+

to tell fox ghost stories around a bonfire and incite rebellion; an uprising is afoot (idiom)

phrase

Showing 6 of 8 idioms containing 狐.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个狐字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gè hú zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

In Classical Chinese, the character for "fox" has different meanings.

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jí hú quán xīn ā ěr fǎ S 5 shàng shì bǔ tiē jià 9 . 9 8 wàn qǐ , quán . . .

The all-new Arcfox Alpha S5 is now on sale with a subsidized starting price of 99,800 yuan, featuring...

Character Family

犭 Radical Family — Characters sharing the dog radical

狈bèi猜cāi猖chāng独dú犯fàn狗gǒu狠hěn猴hóu猾huá狡jiǎo

Related Characters

狗gǒu猫māo猜cāi猛měng猩xīng猾huá狱yù猎liè猪zhū状zhuàng

Homophones — Characters pronounced hú

弧hú

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 狐 (hú) mean in Chinese?
狐 (hú) primarily means "fox." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3076 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 狐 and 孤?
狐 (hú) and 孤 (gū) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 犭 vs 子 (same 瓜 component).
How many strokes does 狐 have?
狐 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 狐?
The radical associated with 狐 is 犭 (dog). This radical appears in many characters related to dog.
What are the components of 狐?
狐 is composed of: 犭 (semantic), 瓜 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰犭瓜 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 狐?
Common words with 狐 include: 狐狸 (hú li, "fox"); 狐狸精 (hú li jīng, "fox-spirit"); 狐朋狗友 (hú péng gǒu yǒu, "a pack of rogues (idiom)"); 九尾狐 (jiǔ wěi hú, "nine-tailed fox (mythological creature)"); 狐臭 (hú chòu, "body odor"). There are over 33 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 狐 (hú)?
Several characters share the pronunciation hú: 弧 (arc). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 狐 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 狐 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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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.