(hūn): marriage

(hūn) is a Chinese character meaning “marriage.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #942 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, woman. Its radical form (woman) appears in many related characters such as (, woman), (nǎi, grandmother, milk), (, she).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. marriage

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwoman

Decomposition: ⿰女昏 (layout: left-right)

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
verbjié hūnto marry3
nounhūn lǐwedding ceremony5
nounhūn yīnmarriage6
lí hūnto divorce5
verbqiú hūnto propose marriage6
verbdìng hūnto get engaged6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
wèi hūn qīfiancée
wèi hūn fūfiancé
yǐ hūnmarried
hūn shāwedding dress
hūn qiánpremarital
xīn hūnnewly married
wèi hūnunmarried
zài hūnto remarry
hūn yuēengagement
hūn yànwedding reception
hūn shìwedding
chóng hūnbigamy
chéng hūnto get married
hūn wài liànsee 婚外情[hun1 wai4 qing2]
hūn qīwedding day
100
Total compounds
32
As first character
51
As last character
17
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 32 as the first character, 51 as the last, and 17 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.

yīn
0.808152,738 co-occurrences
jié
0.581111,849 co-occurrences
0.52129,781 co-occurrences
0.49333,528 co-occurrences
0.47836,212 co-occurrences
yàn
0.4567,395 co-occurrences
wèi
0.44958,800 co-occurrences
dìng
0.4287,488 co-occurrences
jià
0.4266,966 co-occurrences
shā
0.4251,560 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

fèngzǐchénghūnHSK 6+

shotgun wedding; shotgun marriage; to get married because of pregnancy

phrase
nán hūn nǚ jiàHSK 6+

to celebrate a wedding

phrase
xīnhūnyàn'ěrHSK 7+

to bask in newlywed bliss

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他们的礼定在下个月,已经发了请柬给亲朋好友。

Tāmen de hūnlǐ dìng zài xià gè yuè, yǐjīng fā le qǐngjiǎn gěi qīnpéng hǎoyǒu.

Their wedding is scheduled for next month; invitations have already been sent to relatives and friends.

StheadlineFeb 2026

护花使者|广东美女拜年遭亲戚催 6岁侄仔妙语反击|有片

hù huā shǐ zhě guǎng dōng měi nǚ bài nián zāo qīn qī cuī hūn 6 suì zhí zǐ miào yǔ fǎn jī yǒu piàn

Flower Protector|Guangdong beauty was urged to get married by relatives for New Year's greetings, and her 6-year-old nephew counterattacked with a witty remark|There is a film

TvbsFeb 2026

...金素梅涉貪案 昔「車內密會潘若迪」險被離

. . . jīn sù méi shè 貪 àn xī 車 內 mì 會 pān ruò dí 險 bèi 離 hūn

Jin Su-mei's Corruption Case: Once Nearly Divorced Over "Secret Car Meeting with Pan Ruodi"

LtnFeb 2026

黃子佼半年!孟耿如近況曝光 周丹薇洩私下...

離 hūn 黃 zǐ 佼 bàn nián ! mèng gěng rú jìn 況 pù guāng zhōu dān 薇 洩 sī xià . . .

Half a year since Huang Zijiao's divorce! Meng Gengru's recent updates revealed as Zhou Danwei spills the beans on their private life...

TvbsFeb 2026

...百萬人次! 12筊奪冠抱回90萬休旅車當

. . . bǎi 萬 rén cì ! 筊 奪 guàn bào huí 萬 xiū lǚ 車 當 hūn 車

...One million visitors! Winning the championship with 12 divination sticks, they took home a $90,000 SUV as their wedding car.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

春節慶帶旺金市!大陸金價飆升 結「五金」飆...

chūn 節 hūn 慶 帶 wàng jīn shì ! dà 陸 jīn 價 飆 shēng 結 hūn wǔ jīn 飆 . . .

Spring Festival Wedding Season Fuels Gold Market! Mainland Gold Prices Soar as Wedding "Five Metals" Skyrocket...

Tatoeba

能告诉我你的姻状况吗?

Néng gàosu wǒ nǐ de hūnyīn zhuàngkuàng ma?

Can you tell me about your marital status?

Tatoeba

你打算参加汤姆和玛丽的礼吗?

Nǐ dǎsuàn cānjiā Tāngmǔ hé Mǎlì de hūnlǐ ma?

Are you planning to be at Tom and Mary's wedding?

Tatoeba

你为什么跟汤姆结

Nǐ wèi shénme gēn Tāngmǔ jiéhūn?

Why did you marry Tom?

Tatoeba

你觉得汤姆知道玛丽已经结了了吗?

Nǐ juéde Tāngmǔ zhīdào Mǎlì yǐjīng jiéle hūn le ma?

Do you think Tom knows Mary is married?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced hūn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 婚 (hūn) mean in Chinese?
婚 (hūn) primarily means "marriage." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #942 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 婚 have?
婚 is written with 11 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 婚?
The radical associated with 婚 is 女 (woman). This radical appears in many characters related to woman.
What are the components of 婚?
婚 is composed of: 女 (semantic), 昏 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰女昏 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 婚?
Common words with 婚 include: 结婚 (jié hūn, "to marry"); 婚礼 (hūn lǐ, "wedding ceremony"); 婚姻 (hūn yīn, "marriage"); 离婚 (lí hūn, "to divorce"); 求婚 (qiú hūn, "to propose marriage"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 婚 (hūn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation hūn: 昏 (muddle-headed), 浑 (muddy), 魂 (soul), 混 (to mix). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 婚 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 婚 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.