荤 (hūn): strong-smelling vegetable (garlic etc)
荤 (hūn) is a Chinese character meaning “strong-smelling vegetable (garlic etc).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 军 (phonetic). It ranks #3106 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 荤 plant. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 草 (cǎo, grass), 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea).
Definitions
- strong-smelling vegetable (garlic etc)
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 荤 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 荤菜noun | hūn cài | non-vegetarian dish (including meat, fish, garlic, onion etc) |
| 有荤有素 | yǒu hūn yǒu sù | to include both meat and vegetables |
| 荤笑话 | hūn xiào hua | dirty jokes |
| 荤段子 | hūn duàn zi | dirty joke |
| 七荤八素 | qī hūn bā sù | confused |
| 开荤verb | kāi hūn | to eat meat after having maintained a vegetarian diet |
| 荤话noun | hūn huà | obscene speech |
| 五荤noun | wǔ hūn | (Buddhism etc) the five forbidden pungent vegetables: leek, scallion, garlic, rape and coriander |
| 茹荤饮酒 | rú hūn yǐn jiǔ | to eat meat and drink wine |
| 荤素noun | hūn sù | meat and vegetable |
| 荤油noun | hūn yóu | lard |
| 油荤 | yóu hūn | meat foods |
| 荤辛 | hūn xīn | very pungent and spicy vegetable dishes (a common Buddhist term) |
| 茹荤verb | rú hūn | to eat meat |
| 荤腥noun | hūn xīng | meat and fish |
荤 appears in 16 compound words: 56 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 19 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 荤 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
学习荤字需要反复练习，才能写得工整。
xué xí hūn zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .
Writing the character "荤" requires repeated practice to ensure it is written neatly.
聚餐时切忌暴饮暴食，荤素合理搭配，可选择温热的茶水中和寒凉刺激。
jù cān shí qiē jì bào yǐn bào shí , hūn sù gě lǐ dā pèi , kě xuǎn zé wēn rè de chá shuǐ zhōng hé hán liáng cì jī .
During meals with others, avoid overeating; balance meat and vegetable dishes, and consider drinking warm tea to counteract the effects of cold or spicy foods.
食堂每日提供8个菜，包括荤菜、素菜各4个，主食包括粗粮、细粮。
shí táng měi rì tí gōng 8 gè cài , bāo kuò hūn cài , sù cài gè 4 gè , zhǔ shí bāo kuò cū liáng , xì liáng .
The cafeteria serves eight dishes daily, including four meat dishes and four vegetarian dishes, with staple foods consisting of both whole grains and refined grains.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 荤 (hūn) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 荤 and 辉?
How many strokes does 荤 have?
What is the radical of 荤?
What are the components of 荤?
What are common words containing 荤?
Is 荤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 荤 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.