(hún): soul, spirit, immortal soul (that can be detached from the body)

(hún) is a Chinese character meaning “soul.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1340 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, spirit. Its radical form (ghost) appears in many related characters such as (guǐ, disembodied spirit), (kuí, chief), (, (literary) soul).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. soul
  2. spirit
  3. immortal soul (that can be detached from the body)

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticspirit

Decomposition: ⿰云鬼 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
líng húnsoul
guǐ húnghost
shén húnmind
xiāo húnecstasy
yīn húnghost
hún pòsoul
jīng húnin a panicked state
huán húnto return from the grave
wáng húnsoul of the deceased
yuān húnghost of one who died unjustly
hún língsoul
gū húnlonely soul
hún fēi pò sànlit. the soul flies away and scatters (idiom)
zhāo húnto call back the soul of sb who has died or is seriously ill
hún qiān mèng yíng(idiom) to miss very much
54
Total compounds
13
As first character
43
As last character
44
As middle character

appears in 54 compound words: 13 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 44 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.

0.6568,172 co-occurrences
líng
0.63027,793 co-occurrences
guǐ
0.55817,346 co-occurrences
0.5492,352 co-occurrences
jīng
0.5195,134 co-occurrences
yuān
0.4882,442 co-occurrences
yōu
0.4583,558 co-occurrences
qiào
0.455204 co-occurrences
gōu
0.4131,344 co-occurrences
0.4122,778 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (14)

gūhúnyěguǐHSK 7+

wandering soul that is unable to reincarnate; one who is in difficult circumstances and has nobody to lean on

phrase
húnbùfùtǐHSK 7+

to be so scared or shocked that one practically leaps out of one's skin

phrase
húnbùshǒushèHSK 7+

to be inattentive; to have lost one's concentration

phrase
húnfēipòsànHSK 7+

to be frightened stiff; to be spooked out of one's mind; to be terror-stricken

phrase
jièshīhuánhúnHSK 7+

a discarded or discredited idea returns in another guise

phrase
línghún rénwùHSK 7+

key figure; central figure

noun
sānhúnqīpòHSK 7+

three hun and seven po

phrase
sànghúnluòpòHSK 7+

synonym of 失魂落魄 (shīhúnluòpò)

phrase
shénhúndiāndǎoHSK 7+

possessed; obsessed

phrase
shīhúnluòpòHSK 7+

driven to distraction; panic-stricken; to lose one's wits

phrase
yīnhúnbùsànHSK 7+

to have a (often negative) lasting effect (with respect to a person or event that is now not existing)

phrase
àn rán xiāo húnHSK 7+

overwhelming sadness (idiom); sorrow at parting

phrase

Showing 12 of 14 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。

hún zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .

The character "魂" has different usages in different contexts.

TvbsFeb 2026

...夜闯平交道遭自强号高速撞飞“脑浆外溢”断 死者身分曝

. . . yè chuǎng píng jiāo dào zāo zì qiáng hào gāo sù zhuàng fēi nǎo jiāng wài yì duàn hún sǐ zhě shēn fēn pù

... At night, he was hit by the Ziqiang at high speed and flew away, and the identity of the deceased was exposed

中時新聞網Feb 2026

美股回! 道指强弹400点 台积电ADR劲扬4...

měi gǔ huí hún ! dào zhǐ qiáng dàn 4 0 0 diǎn tái jī diàn A D R jìn yáng 4 . . .

U.S. stocks return! The Dow rebounded 400 points, and TSMC ADR rose by 4...

It之家Feb 2026

...S 4 游戏支持名单:《生化危机 9:安曲》《红色沙漠》《毒液突击队》

. . . S 4 yóu xì zhī chí míng dān : shēng huà wēi jī 9 : ān hún qū hóng sè shā mò dú yè tū jī duì

... S 4 Game Support List: Resident Evil 9: Requiem, Red Desert, Venom

中時新聞網Feb 2026

国3龙井段惊!驾驶分心追撞缓撞车 车流回堵2公里

guó 3 lóng jǐng duàn jīng hún ! jià shǐ fēn xīn zhuī zhuàng huǎn zhuàng chē chē liú huí dǔ 2 gōng lǐ

National 3 Longjing section is horror! The driver was distracted and slowed down the collision, and the traffic flow was blocked for 2 kilometers

百度新闻Feb 2026

...读|“马上”体祝福里的民生期盼;AI“灵附..

. . . dòu mǎ shàng tǐ zhù fú lǐ de mín shēng qī pàn ; A I líng hún fù . .

... Read | Immediately, "feel the expectations of people's livelihood in the blessing; AI's "soul attachment:

Tatoeba

你的灵已坠进了地狱。

Nǐ de línghún yǐ zhuì jìn le dìyù.

Your soul has been condemned to hell.

Tatoeba

赋予肉体生命。

Línghún fùyǔ ròutǐ shēngmìng.

The soul animates the body.

Tatoeba

她被他迷得神颠倒。

Tā bèi tā mí de shénhúndiāndǎo.

She's completely crazy about him.

Tatoeba

这人把灵卖给魔鬼。

Zhè rén bǎ línghún mài gěi móguǐ.

The man sold his soul to the devil.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the ghost radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced hún

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 魂 (hún) mean in Chinese?
魂 (hún) primarily means "soul." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1340 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 魂 and 坛?
魂 (hún) and 坛 (tán) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 鬼 vs 土 (same 云 component).
How many strokes does 魂 have?
魂 is written with 14 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 魂?
The radical associated with 魂 is 鬼 (ghost). This radical appears in many characters related to ghost.
What are the components of 魂?
魂 is composed of: 云 (phonetic), 鬼 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰云鬼 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 魂?
Common words with 魂 include: 灵魂 (líng hún, "soul"); 鬼魂 (guǐ hún, "ghost"); 神魂 (shén hún, "mind"); 销魂 (xiāo hún, "ecstasy"); 阴魂 (yīn hún, "ghost"). There are over 54 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 魂 (hún)?
Several characters share the pronunciation hún: 昏 (muddle-headed), 婚 (marriage), 浑 (muddy), 混 (to mix). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 魂 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 魂 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.