胡 (hú): non-Han people, esp. from central Asia, reckless, outrageous
胡 (hú) is a Chinese character meaning “non-han people, esp. from central asia.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 古 (phonetic) and ⺼ (semantic). It ranks #806 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 胡 meat. Its radical form 肉 (meat) appears in many related characters such as 肉 (ròu, meat), 能 (néng, can), 背 (bèi, the back of a body or object).
Definitions
- non-Han people, esp. from central Asia
- reckless
- outrageous
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 胡 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 胡
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 胡说verb | hú shuō | to talk nonsense |
| 胡扯verb | hú chě | to chatter |
| 胡说八道 | hú shuō bā dào | to talk rubbish |
| 胡萝卜noun | hú luó bo | carrot |
| 胡闹verb | hú nào | to act willfully and make a scene |
| 胡言乱语 | hú yán luàn yǔ | babbling nonsense (idiom) |
| 死胡同 | sǐ hú tòng | dead end |
| 胡话noun | hú huà | nonsense |
| 胡椒noun | hú jiāo | pepper |
| 胡乱adverb | hú luàn | careless |
| 胡须noun | hú xū | beard |
| 胡来verb | hú lái | to act arbitrarily regardless of the rules |
| 胡桃noun | hú táo | walnut |
| 胡安proper-noun | hú ān | Juan (Spanish given name) |
| 胡椒粉noun | hú jiāo fěn | ground pepper (i.e. powder) |
胡 appears in 102 compound words: 77 as the first character, 15 as the last, and 8 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 胡 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (16)
Showing 12 of 16 idioms containing 胡.
Example Sentences
胡字由11笔画组成，结构很巧妙。
hú zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .
The character "Hu" consists of 11 strokes and has a very ingenious structure.
...朗局势—美国以色列联手发动空袭 内塔尼亚胡:目标推翻政权—不断更新
. . . lǎng jú shì — měi guó yǐ sè liè lián shǒu fā dòng kōng xí nèi tǎ ní yà hú : mù biāo tuī fān zhèng quán — bù duàn gēng xīn
... Lang situation - the United States and Israel join forces to launch airstrikes Netanyahu: Goal to overthrow the regime - constantly updated
胡·说楼市|财政预算案2026: 地价收入...
hú shuō lóu shì cái zhèng yù suàn àn 2 0 2 6 : dì jià shōu rù . . .
Hu said that the property market|Budget 2026: Land price income...
【重播】内塔尼亚胡与莫迪会晤后发表讲话
chóng bō nèi tǎ ní yà hú yǔ mò dí huì wù hòu fā biǎo jiǎng huà
Netanyahu delivered a speech after meeting with Modi
内塔尼亚胡宣布组建针对穆斯林的新联盟
nèi tǎ ní yà hú xuān bù zǔ jiàn zhēn duì mù sī lín de xīn lián méng
Netanyahu announced the formation of a new coalition against Muslims
年初八拜天公是否可燃放爆竹 胡栋强促倪可敏交代
nián chū bā bài tiān gōng shì fǒu kě rán fàng bào zhú hú dòng qiáng cù 倪 kě mǐn jiāo dài
On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, whether it is possible to set off firecrackers Hu Dong forced Ni Kemin to explain
汤姆不喜欢胡萝卜。
Tāngmǔ bù xǐhuan húluóbo.
Tom doesn't like carrots.
把胡萝卜放在锅里。
Bǎ húluóbo fàng zài guō lǐ.
Put the carrots in the pot.
请把盐和胡椒粉拿给我。
Qǐng bǎ yán hé hújiāofěn ná gěi wǒ.
Pass me the salt and pepper, please.
吃胡蘿蔔可以治夜盲症。
Chī húluóbo kěyǐ zhì yèmángzhèng.
Eating carrots can help cure night blindness.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the ⺼ (meat) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 胡 (hú) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 胡 and 故?
How many strokes does 胡 have?
What is the radical of 胡?
What are the components of 胡?
What are common words containing 胡?
What characters sound the same as 胡 (hú)?
Is 胡 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 胡 with real-time feedback
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