(huà): to make into, to change into, -ization, to ... -ize, to transform, abbr. for 化學|化学[hua4 xue2]

(huà) is a Chinese character meaning “to make into.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #178 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to make into
  2. to change into
  3. -ization
  4. to ... -ize
  5. to transform
  6. abbr. for 化學|化学[hua4 xue2]

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verb/nounbiàn huà(intransitive) to change3
nounwén huàculture3
huà xuéchemistry5
verbhuà zhuāngto put on makeup6
verbjìn huàevolution6
verbróng huàto melt6
xiāo huàto digest (food)5
nounèr yǎng huà tàncarbon dioxide CO26
verbqiáng huàto strengthen6
verbjiǎn huàto simplify6
nounhuà shífossil6
verbxiàn dài huàmodernization5
verbshù zì huàto digitize6
verbyōu huàto optimize6
绿verblǜ huàto make green with plants6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
è huàto worsen
huà yànchemical examination
huà liáochemotherapy
jìng huàto purify
huà shēnincarnation
huà míngto go by an alias
huǒ huàto cremate
huà zhuāng(of actors) to make up
fū huàbreeding
lǎo huà(of a person, population or material) to age
měi huàto make more beautiful
huà jiěto dissolve
fǔ huàto rot
fēn huàto split apart
gǎn huàcorrective influence
100
Total compounds
29
As first character
70
As last character
1
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 29 as the first character, 70 as the last, and 1 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.

yǎng
0.647180,822 co-occurrences
wén
0.6441,530,933 co-occurrences
zhāng
0.57294,515 co-occurrences
0.56125,362 co-occurrences
cuī
0.55854,324 co-occurrences
biàn
0.552211,146 co-occurrences
tàn
0.52855,641 co-occurrences
zhuāng
0.52115,018 co-occurrences
yuán
0.52187 co-occurrences
shí
0.470187,950 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (31)

biànhuàduōduānHSK 6+

varied; changeable; capable of being changed in a variety of ways

phrase
biànhuàmòcèHSK 7+

to be unpredictable and changeable

phrase
biànhuàwúchángHSK 4+

irregular, fickle, capricious

phrase
chūnfēnghuàyǔHSK 3+

benefits of education; positive influence of a teacher

phrase
dà'érhuàzhīHSK 4+

to do something carelessly and not pay attention to details

phrase
dòngmài yìnghuàHSK 7+

arteriosclerosis

noun
èryǎnghuàtànHSK 6+

carbon dioxide

noun
fēnxīhuàxuéHSK 5+

analytical chemistry

noun
féngxiōnghuàjíHSK 7+

to get through a dangerous crisis; to land on one's feet

phrase
gānghuà bōliHSK 5+

toughened glass; tempered glass

noun
huàdíwéiyǒuHSK 5+

to turn an enemy into a friend

phrase
huàwéi pàoyǐngHSK 6+

to disappear completely; to come to nothing

verb

Showing 12 of 31 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men huā zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "化."

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

...文垂:期待“为奥运喝彩”项目组持续发挥文桥梁作用

. . . wén chuí : qī dài wéi ào yùn hē cǎi xiàng mù zǔ chí xù fā huī wén huà qiáo liáng zuò yòng

... Venturi: I look forward to the "Cheer for the Olympics" project team continuing to play a role as a cultural bridge

EttodayFeb 2026

...宣布“欧洲新车累积销量突破百万辆”!电动布局成核心动能

. . . xuān bù ōu zhōu xīn chē lěi jī xiāo liàng tū pò bǎi wàn liàng ! diàn dòng huà bù jú chéng hé xīn dòng néng

... announced that "the cumulative sales of new cars in Europe exceeded one million units"! Electrification layout has become the core driving force

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...潭9岁男童溺毙 纵管处:与地方政府共同强管理

. . . tán 9 suì nán tóng nì bì zòng guǎn chǔ : yǔ dì fāng zhèng fǔ gòng tóng qiáng huà guǎn lǐ

... Tan 9-year-old boy drowned Longitudinal Management Office: Strengthen management with local governments

百度新闻Feb 2026

倒酱油、拌肉馅,看春晚机器人身“新春大厨”

dǎo jiàng yóu , bàn ròu xiàn , kàn chūn wǎn jī qì rén huà shēn xīn chūn dà chú

Pour soy sauce, mix meat filling, and watch the Spring Festival Gala robot transform into a "New Year chef"

百度新闻Feb 2026

高标准高质量推进雄安新区建设现代城市丨雄安新区新..

gāo biāo zhǔn gāo zhì liàng tuī jìn xióng ān xīn qū jiàn shè xiàn dài huà chéng shì 丨 xióng ān xīn qū xīn . .

Promote the construction of Xiong'an New Area into a modern city with high standards and high quality丨Xiong'an New Area New:

Tatoeba

谁能融你的铁石心肠?

Shéi néng rónghuà nǐ de tiěshíxīncháng?

Who could melt that stone heart of yours?

Tatoeba

霜还没有开始溶

Shuāng hái méiyǒu kāishǐ rónghuà.

The hoarfrost hasn't yet begun to thaw.

Tatoeba

我们要尊重传统文

Wǒmen yào zūnzhòng chuántǒng wénhuà.

We must have respect for tradition.

Tatoeba

这些年空气质量恶了。

Zhèxiē nián kōngqì zhìliàng èhuà le.

Air quality has deteriorated these past few years.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the spoon radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced huà

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 化 (huà) mean in Chinese?
化 (huà) primarily means "to make into." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #178 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 化 have?
化 is written with 4 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 化?
The radical associated with 化 is 匕 (spoon). This radical appears in many characters related to spoon.
What are the components of 化?
化 is composed of: 亻 (structural), 匕 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻匕 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 化?
Common words with 化 include: 变化 (biàn huà, "(intransitive) to change"); 文化 (wén huà, "culture"); 化学 (huà xué, "chemistry"); 化妆 (huà zhuāng, "to put on makeup"); 恶化 (è huà, "to worsen"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 化 (huà)?
Several characters share the pronunciation huà: 花 (flower), 哗 ((onom.) bang), 华 (abbr. for China), 滑 (to slip), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 化 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 化 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.