惑 (huò): to confuse, to be puzzled

惑 (huò) is a Chinese character meaning “to confuse.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 或 (structural) and 心 (structural). It ranks #1589 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 惑 an uncertain 或 heart 心; 或 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 忄 (heart) appears in many related characters such as 忙 (máng, busy), 快 (kuài, fast, happy), 怎 (zěn, how).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to confuse
  2. to be puzzled

Etymology & Origin

惑

ideographicAn uncertain 或 heart 心; 或 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿱或心 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 惑

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
疑惑verb/nounyí huòto doubt6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
困惑adjectivekùn huòbewildered
诱惑verbyòu huòto entice
迷惑adjectivemí huoto puzzle
蛊惑verbgǔ huòto entice
迷惑不解mí huò bù jiěto feel puzzled
解惑verbjiě huòto dispel doubts
蛊惑人心gǔ huò rén xīnto stir up public sentiment by false statements (idiom)
惶惑adjectivehuáng huòanxious and perplexed
大惑不解phrasedà huò bù jiěto be at a loss (idiom)
人非生而知之者,孰能无惑rén fēi shēng ér zhī zhī zhě , shú néng wú huòKnowledge is not innate to man, how can we overcome doubt?
困惑不解kùn huò bù jiěto feel perplexed
左道惑众zuǒ dào huò zhòngto delude the masses with heretical doctrines (idiom)
不惑verbbù huòwithout doubt
解疑释惑jiě yí shì huò(idiom) to solve a problem
惑星nounhuò xīng(obsolete) planet
25
Total compounds
4
As first character
56
As last character
40
As middle character

惑 appears in 25 compound words: 4 as the first character, 56 as the last, and 40 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 惑 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

诱yòu
0.6321,989 co-occurrences
煽shān
0.6021,406 co-occurrences
魅mèi
0.5711,446 co-occurrences
困kùn
0.5704,935 co-occurrences
疑yí
0.5393,640 co-occurrences
荧yíng
0.511256 co-occurrences
迷mí
0.4693,972 co-occurrences
仔zǐ
0.4281,457 co-occurrences
感gǎn
0.4142,160 co-occurrences
媚mèi
0.404126 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

大惑不解dàhuòbùjiěHSK 6+

to be at a loss, confused

phrase
困惑不解kùn huò bù jiěHSK 6+

to feel perplexed

phrase
迷惑不解mí huò bù jiěHSK 6+

to feel puzzled

phrase
妖言惑众yāoyánhuòzhòngHSK 7+

to delude the masses with strange and harmful teachings; to deceive people with lies and fallacies

phrase
谣言惑众yáo yán huò zhòngHSK 7+

to mislead the public with rumors; to delude the people with lies

phrase
蛊惑人心gǔ huò rén xīnHSK 6+

to stir up public sentiment by false statements (idiom); to resort to demagogy

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这件事让我惑烦意乱,整夜都没有睡好。

zhè jiàn shì ràng wǒ huò fán yì luàn , zhěng yè dū méi yǒu shuì hǎo .

This matter has left me troubled and restless, unable to sleep well all night.

LtnMar 2026

TPBL》职业球员防赌远离诱惑!高雄海神法治教育宣导

T P B L zhí yè qiú yuán fáng dǔ yuǎn lí yòu huò ! gāo xióng hǎi shén fǎ zhì jiào yù xuān dǎo

"TPBL: Professional Players Fight Gambling and Stay Away from Temptation! Kaohsiung Seagulls Legal Education Campaign"

東方日報Feb 2026

...琪超清纯家姐惊喜露面 曾为广告女神嫁“古惑仔”

. . . 琪 chāo qīng chún jiā jiě jīng xǐ lù miàn céng wéi guǎng gào nǚ shén jià gǔ huò zǐ

... Qi Chao's pure sister made a surprise appearance and once married the advertising goddess "Crazy Boy"

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

...净的业绩超预期”,分析师对股价反应感到困惑

. . . jìng de yè jì chāo yù qī , fēn xī shī duì gǔ jià fǎn yīng gǎn dào kùn huò

... Net performance exceeded expectations", and analysts were confused by the stock price reaction

Hk01.comFeb 2026

人母何雁诗“股惑”游越南 着比坚尼晒日光浴一转身惊为天人...

rén mǔ hé yàn shī gǔ huò yóu yuè nán zhe bǐ jiān ní shài rì guāng yù yī zhuǎn shēn jīng wéi tiān rén . . .

The mother He Yanshi traveled to Vietnam in a bikini and sunbathed in a bikini, and was shocked...

EttodayFeb 2026

...到发票中千元简讯怕被骗 里港警火速查证解惑

. . . dào fā piào zhōng qiān yuán jiǎn xùn pà bèi piàn lǐ gǎng jǐng huǒ sù chá zhèng jiě huò

... To the invoice of 1,000 yuan text message, afraid of being deceived, the Ligang police quickly checked and solved the doubts

Tatoeba

你不应该屈服在诱惑之下。

Nǐ bù yīnggāi qūfú zài yòuhuò zhīxià.

You must not yield to temptation.

Tatoeba

我抵抗不了甜食的诱惑。

Wǒ dǐkàngbuliǎo tiánshí de yòuhuò.

I can't resist sweets.

Tatoeba

他很困惑该走哪条路。

Tā hěn kùnhuò gāi zǒu nǎ tiáo lù.

He was doubtful about which way to take.

Tatoeba

她终于受不了诱惑,吃掉了整件蛋糕。

Tā zhōngyú shòubùliǎo yòuhuò, chīdiào le zhěng jiàn dàngāo.

Finally she gave in to temptation and ate the whole cake.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced huò

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 惑 (huò) mean in Chinese?
惑 (huò) primarily means "to confuse." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1589 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 惑 have?
惑 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 惑?
The radical associated with 惑 is 忄 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 惑?
惑 is composed of: 或 (structural), 心 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱或心 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 惑?
Common words with 惑 include: 困惑 (kùn huò, "bewildered"); 诱惑 (yòu huò, "to entice"); 迷惑 (mí huo, "to puzzle"); 疑惑 (yí huò, "to doubt"); 蛊惑 (gǔ huò, "to entice"). There are over 25 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 惑 (huò)?
Several characters share the pronunciation huò: 或 (maybe), 活 (to live), 火 (fire), 获 ((literary) to catch), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 惑 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 惑 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 惑 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.