活 (huó): to live, alive, living
活 (huó) is a Chinese character meaning “to live.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 舌 (phonetic). It ranks #219 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 活 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).
Definitions
- to live
- alive
- living
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 活 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 活
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 生活noun/verb | shēng huó | to live | 3 |
| 活动verb/noun | huó dòng | to exercise | 4 |
| 活力noun | huó lì | energy | 6 |
| 活跃adjective/verb | huó yuè | active | 6 |
| 活泼adjective | huó po | lively | 4 |
| 灵活adjective | líng huó | flexible | 5 |
| 干活儿verb | gàn huó r | erhua variant of 幹活|干活 | 4 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 干活verb | gàn huó | to work |
| 活儿noun | huó r | work |
| 复活verb | fù huó | to revive |
| 性生活 | xìng shēng huó | sex life |
| 活该verb | huó gāi | (coll.) serve sb right |
| 激活verb | jī huó | to activate |
| 活生生 | huó shēng shēng | real (people) |
| 存活verb | cún huó | to survive (a serious accident) |
| 活命verb | huó mìng | life |
| 养活verb | yǎng huo | to provide for |
| 复活节proper-noun | fù huó jié | Easter |
| 私生活noun | sī shēng huó | private life |
| 快活adjective | kuài huo | happy |
| 活人noun | huó rén | living person |
| 活活adverb | huó huó | while still alive |
活 appears in 105 compound words: 52 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 5 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 活 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (12)
living spirit, living image (idiom); true to life; vivid and realistic
one's utmost; (to fight or work) desperately hard; to put up a life or death struggle
(Tw) life skills education; education in practical, emotional, social and moral aspects of daily living
lit. lively dragon and animated tiger (idiom); fig. vigorous and lively
to skin and eat … alive; to apply uncritically; to use without real understanding
living spirit, living image (idiom); true to life; vivid and realistic
one's utmost; (to fight or work) desperately hard; to put up a life or death struggle
Example Sentences
他生活很有规律，每天早上六点起床，晚上十点睡觉。
Tā shēnghuó hěn yǒu guīlǜ, měitiān zǎoshang liù diǎn qǐchuáng, wǎnshang shí diǎn shuìjiào.
He lives a very regular life, getting up at six every morning and going to bed at ten in the evening.
研究表明:监管缺失的商业航天活动正成为大气污染新威胁
yán jiū biǎo míng : jiān guǎn quē shī de shāng yè háng tiān huó dòng zhèng chéng wéi dà qì wū rǎn xīn wēi xié
Research shows that commercial space activities without regulation are becoming a new threat to air pollution
跨区出行需求活跃,冬奥会带火冰雪旅游热
kuà qū chū háng xū qiú huó yuè , dōng ào huì dài huǒ bīng xuě lǚ yóu rè
The demand for cross-regional travel is active, and the Winter Olympics will bring fire to ice and snow tourism
中外交流|塞尔维亚举行系列新春庙会活动庆祝中国年
zhōng wài jiāo liú sāi ěr wéi yà jǔ háng xì liè xīn chūn miào huì huó dòng qìng zhù zhōng guó nián
Sino-Foreign Exchange|Serbia celebrates Chinese New Year with a series of Lunar New Year temple festivals
从“舞台秀”到“真干活”,北京卫视春晚机器人从“舞..
cóng wǔ tái xiù dào zhēn gān huó , běi jīng wèi shì chūn wǎn jī qì rén cóng wǔ . .
From "stage show" to "real work", Beijing TV Spring Festival Gala robot from "dance...
腾讯:元宝日活超5000万,月活达1.14亿
téng xùn yuán bǎo rì huó chāo mò , yuè huó dá . yì
Tencent: Yuanbao surpasses 50 million daily active users, with monthly active users reaching 114 million.
你参加社团活动吗？
Nǐ cānjiā shètuán huódòng ma?
Do you take part in any community activities?
这条鱼还是活的吗？
Zhè tiáo yú háishi huó de ma?
Is this fish still alive?
你觉得你在美国每天只用一美元能生活吗？
Nǐ juéde nǐ zài Měiguó měitiān zhǐ yòng yī Měiyuán néng shēnghuó ma?
Do you think you can live on a dollar a day in America?
我的爱好为我的生活带来什么？
Wǒ de àihào wèi wǒ de shēnghuó dàilái shénme?
What do my hobbies bring to my life?
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 活 (huó) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 活 and 挂?
How many strokes does 活 have?
What is the radical of 活?
What are the components of 活?
What are common words containing 活?
What characters sound the same as 活 (huó)?
Is 活 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 活 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.