(huáng): yellow, pornographic, to fall through

(huáng) is a Chinese character meaning “yellow.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical (yellow). It ranks #561 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, a jade pendant. Its radical form (yellow) appears in many related characters.

Native pronunciation
HSK 3Radical: yellow12 strokesFrequency #561

Definitions

  1. yellow
  2. pornographic
  3. to fall through

Etymology & Origin

pictographicA jade pendant

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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
nounhuáng sèyellow3
nounhuáng jīngold5
nounhuáng guācucumber5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
huáng yóubutter
huáng fēngwasp
dàn huángegg yolk
huáng hūndusk
huáng jiàngyellow soybean paste (fermented and salted)
huáng quánthe Yellow Springs
huáng tóngbrass (alloy of copper 銅|铜[tong2] and zinc 鋅|锌[xin1])
huáng dòusoybean
huáng lóngHuanglong county in Yan'an 延安[Yan2 an1], Shaanxi
cí huángorpiment
huáng dào(astronomy) the ecliptic
huáng héYellow River or Huang He
huáng niúox
huáng zhǒngthe yellow race
huáng huāyellow flowers (of various types)
100
Total compounds
88
As first character
12
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 88 as the first character, 12 as the last, and 0 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.

xiāng
0.5657,686 co-occurrences
0.53316 co-occurrences
gāng
0.51910,020 co-occurrences
hūn
0.4968,910 co-occurrences
0.48385,764 co-occurrences
cháng
0.4672,034 co-occurrences
0.46349,386 co-occurrences
chāng
0.46211 co-occurrences
fēng
0.4616,330 co-occurrences
jīn
0.45973,542 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (23)

huáng cháo zhī luànHSK 7+

late Tang peasant uprising 875-884 led by Huang Chao

phrase
huánghuā guīnüHSK 7+

maiden; (untouched) female virgin

noun
huáng jīn zhī luànHSK 4+

the Yellow Turbans Peasant Uprising at the end of later Han (from 184)

phrase
huángjīn fēngēHSK 6+

golden ratio; golden section

noun
Huángjīn Hǎi'ànHSK 6+

the "Gold Coast" of China; China's prosperous coastal provinces; Hong Kong Gold Coast

huángjīn shíduànHSK 4+

prime time

noun
huángmáo yātouHSK 7+

young, inexperienced girl

noun
huángqūméijūnHSK 7+

Aspergillus flavus

noun
huángsè zhàyàoHSK 5+

trinitrotoluene; TNT (a highly explosive yellow crystalline substance)

noun
miànhuángjīshòuHSK 5+

to have a sallow complexion and emaciated body; to look sick or malnourished

phrase
mìng fù huáng quánHSK 7+

to visit the Yellow Springs; to die

phrase
rén lǎo zhū huángHSK 6+

(of a woman) old and faded

phrase

Showing 12 of 23 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们字的发音和笔顺。

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

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

東方日報Feb 2026

900克金遗漏列车 女乘客失而复得

9 0 0 kè huáng jīn yí lòu liè chē nǚ chéng kè shī ér fù dé

900 grams of gold missing train Female passenger lost and recovered

三立新聞網Feb 2026

以为金!贼闯宅偷宝盒 他:是我肾结石

yǐ wéi huáng jīn ! zéi chuǎng zhái tōu bǎo hé tā : shì wǒ shèn jié shí

Think it's gold! Thieves break into the house and steal treasure boxes He: It's my kidney stones

EttodayFeb 2026

云林大狗被人从5楼丢下“凶手抓到了” 虐狗原因...

yún lín dà huáng gǒu bèi rén cóng 5 lóu diū xià xiōng shǒu zhuā dào le nüè gǒu yuán yīn . . .

The big yellow dog in Yunlin was dropped from the 5th floor "The murderer was caught" The reason for the dog abuse...

百度新闻Feb 2026

金消费火热、春节不打烊,电商人一周三飞

huáng jīn xiāo fèi huǒ rè , chūn jié bù dǎ 烊 , diàn shāng rén yī zhōu sān fēi

Gold consumption is hot, the Spring Festival is not closed, and e-commerce people fly three times a week

百度新闻Feb 2026

外卖骑手晓琴:做骑手与社会连接的纽带|在春天许一...

wài mài qí shǒu huáng xiǎo qín : zuò qí shǒu yǔ shè huì lián jiē de niǔ dài zài chūn tiān xǔ yī . . .

Takeaway rider Huang Xiaoqin: Be the link between riders and society|In the spring...

Tatoeba

哪个比较重,铅还是金?

Nǎge bǐjiào zhòng, qiān háishi huángjīn?

Which is heavier, lead or gold?

Tatoeba

你不喜欢我的围巾吗?

Nǐ bù xǐhuan wǒ de huáng wéijīn ma?

Don't you like my yellow scarf?

Tatoeba

穿色雨衣的女孩是谁?

Chuān huángsè yǔyī de nǚhái shì shéi?

Who's the girl in a yellow raincoat?

Tatoeba

你能再买点儿泡瓜吗?

Nǐ néng zài mǎi diǎnr pāo huángguā ma?

Can you buy some more pickles?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced huáng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 黄 (huáng) mean in Chinese?
黄 (huáng) primarily means "yellow." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #561 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 黄 and 起?
黄 (huáng) and 起 (qǐ) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 黄 (fall) vs 起 (rise).
How many strokes does 黄 have?
黄 is written with 12 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 黄?
The radical associated with 黄 is 黄 (yellow). This radical appears in many characters related to yellow.
What are the components of 黄?
黄 is composed of: undefined (phonetic). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 黄?
Common words with 黄 include: 黄色 (huáng sè, "yellow"); 黄金 (huáng jīn, "gold"); 黄油 (huáng yóu, "butter"); 黄蜂 (huáng fēng, "wasp"); 黄瓜 (huáng guā, "cucumber"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 黄 (huáng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation huáng: 荒 (desolate), 慌 (to get panicky), 皇 (emperor), 凰 (used in 鳳凰|凤凰), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 黄 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 黄 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.