(huā): flower

(huā) is a Chinese character meaning “flower.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #410 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a flower 艹 in bloom 化; 化 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form (grass) appears in many related characters such as (chá, tea), (cài, vegetable, dish), (jié, festival, section).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. flower

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA flower 艹 in bloom 化; 化 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿱艹化 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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
nounhuā yuángarden (for flowers, ornamental plants etc)3
verbhuā fèiexpense5
nounhuā shēngpeanut6
nounxiān huāflower4
nounlán huācymbidium6
nounhuā duǒflower6
nounlíng huā qiánpocket money4
verbkāi huāto bloom3
nounjú huāchrysanthemum6
nounméi huāplum blossom6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
huā érstyle of folk song popular in Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia
huā bànpetal
huā diànflower shop
huā fěnpollen
huā biānlace
huā chēcar festooned for celebration
hóng huāsafflower (Carthamus tinctorius)
huā huángarland
huā jiànggardener
huā cóngcluster of flowers
chā huāflower arranging
huā cǎoflowers and plants
huā huìflowers and plants
huā lěibud
huā dūsee 花都區|花都区[Hua1 du1 Qu1]
100
Total compounds
69
As first character
30
As last character
1
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 69 as the first character, 30 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.

0.63123,592 co-occurrences
huì
0.61318,985 co-occurrences
mián
0.57528,218 co-occurrences
bàn
0.57519,426 co-occurrences
duǒ
0.56430,938 co-occurrences
lián
0.56125,693 co-occurrences
yuán
0.559100,780 co-occurrences
gǎng
0.48415,114 co-occurrences
0.48014,310 co-occurrences
táo
0.47528,014 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (60)

bǎihuāqífàngHSK 5+

many different sorts of flowers bloom simultaneously; a variety of different artistic styles flourish at the same time

phrase
bài liǔ cán huāHSK 7+

broken flower, withered willow (idiom); fig. fallen woman

phrase
bàng liǔ suí huāHSK 7+

prostitute

phrase
bìyuèxiūhuāHSK 5+

extremely beautiful; drop dead gorgeous

phrase
biàndìkāihuāHSK 3+

to proliferate and become widespread; to spring up everywhere

verb
cánhuābàiliǔHSK 7+

impure woman, such as one who leads a promiscuous life, or one who has been abused and abandoned; fallen woman

phrase
dá lǔ huā chìHSK 7+

Mongolian daruqachi, local commander in Mongol and Yuan times

phrase
dòng fáng huā zhúHSK 7+

bridal room and ornamented candles; wedding festivities (idiom)

phrase
huā biān xīn wénHSK 3+

media gossip; sensational news

phrase
huābulēngdēngHSK 7+

gaudy; having too many jumbled colors

adjective
huā zhāo yuè xīHSK 5+

a beautiful day; cf Birthday of the Flowers on lunar 15th February and Mid-autumn Festival on lunar 15th August

phrase
绿huāhóngliǔlǜHSK 7+

profusion of garden flowers

phrase

Showing 12 of 60 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

园里的开了,五颜六色的很漂亮。

Huāyuán lǐ de huā kāi le, wǔyánliùsè de hěn piàoliang.

The flowers in the garden have bloomed; they are very beautiful with various colors.

百度新闻Feb 2026

...全天综合:中国速滑再迎突破 中井亚美领跑..

. . . quán tiān zèng gě zhōng guó sù huá zài yíng tū pò zhōng jǐng yà měi lǐng pǎo huā . .

... All Roundup:China's speed skating breaks through again, Nakai Ami leads the way...

百度新闻Feb 2026

请停留3秒 为这5位空军勇士献!今天是万家团圆的..

qǐng tíng liú miǎo wéi zhè wèi kōng jūn yǒng shì xiàn huā ! jīn tiān shì mò jiā tuán yuán de . .

Please stay for 3 seconds to lay flowers for these 5 Air Force warriors! Today is the day of family reunion...

百度新闻Feb 2026

这届年轻人的消费,要在“心窝”里

zhè jiè nián qīng rén de xiāo fèi , yāo huā zài xīn wō lǐ

This generation of young people will spend in their hearts.

百度新闻Feb 2026

3000株蝴蝶兰凑在一起干什么?世界卉大观园新春..

zhū 蝴 蝶 lán còu zài yī qǐ gān shén má ? shì jiè huā huì dà guàn yuán xīn chūn . .

What's the point of gathering 3,000 Phalaenopsis orchids together? World Floral Expo Spring Festival...

百度新闻Feb 2026

冬奥会|中国滑小将张瑞阳晋级女单自由滑

dōng ào huì zhōng guó huā huá xiǎo jiāng zhāng ruì yáng jìn jí nǚ shàn zì yóu huá

Winter Olympics | China's young figure skater Zhang Ruiyang advances to women's singles free skate

Tatoeba

大概会多少时间?

Dàgài huì huā duōshao shíjiān?

About how long will it take?

Tatoeba

你认为从这里去东京要多久时间?

Nǐ rènwéi cóng zhèlǐ qù Dōngjīng yào huā duōjiǔ shíjiān?

How long do you think it takes to go from here to Tokyo?

Tatoeba

为什么你了所有钱?

Wèishénme nǐ huā le suǒyǒu qián?

Why did you use up all the money?

Tatoeba

走到车站要多少时间?

Zǒu dào chēzhàn yào huā duōshao shíjiān?

How long does it take to walk to the station?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced huā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 花 (huā) mean in Chinese?
花 (huā) primarily means "flower." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #410 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 花 have?
花 is written with 7 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 花?
The radical associated with 花 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 花?
花 is composed of: 艹 (structural), 化 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹化 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 花?
Common words with 花 include: 花园 (huā yuán, "garden (for flowers, ornamental plants etc)"); 花费 (huā fèi, "expense"); 花生 (huā shēng, "peanut"); 鲜花 (xiān huā, "flower"); 兰花 (lán huā, "cymbidium"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 花 (huā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation huā: 哗 ((onom.) bang), 华 (abbr. for China), 滑 (to slip), 猾 (sly), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 花 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 花 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.