汹 (xiōng): torrential rush, tumultuous

汹 (xiōng) is a Chinese character meaning “torrential rush.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 凶 (phonetic). It ranks #2599 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 汹 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 氵 water7 strokesFrequency #2599氵 semantic凶 phonetic

Definitions

  1. torrential rush
  2. tumultuous

Etymology & Origin

汹

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵凶 (layout: left-right)

Components:氵semantic凶phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
汹涌xiōng yǒngto surge up violently (of ocean, river, lake etc)
气势汹汹qì shì xiōng xiōngaggressive
波涛汹涌bō tāo xiōng yǒngwaves surging forth
3
Total compounds
33
As first character
0
As last character
67
As middle character

汹 appears in 3 compound words: 33 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 67 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 汹 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

涌chōng
0.7002,472 co-occurrences
涛tāo
0.625900 co-occurrences
湃pài
0.544114 co-occurrences
势shì
0.506762 co-occurrences
澎péng
0.443120 co-occurrences
波bō
0.436924 co-occurrences
潮cháo
0.428318 co-occurrences
惧jù
0.40848 co-occurrences
浪làng
0.390174 co-occurrences
气qì
0.377276 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

气势汹汹qì shì xiōng xiōngHSK 7+

aggressive; truculent; overbearing

phrase

Showing 1 of 2 idioms containing 汹.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这条汹流经三个省份，滋养了沿岸的农田。

zhè tiáo xiōng liú jīng sān gě shěng fèn , zī yǎng le yán àn de nóng tián .

This mighty river flows through three provinces, nourishing the farmlands along its banks.

Nownews今日新聞Mar 2026

...大数据分析2026台中市议员选举绿营来势汹汹?

. . . dà shǔ jù fēn xī 2 0 2 6 tái zhōng shì yì yuán xuǎn jǔ lǜ yíng lái shì xiōng xiōng ?

Character Family

氵 Radical Family — Characters sharing the water radical

澳ào滨bīn濒bīn波bō沧cāng测cè潮cháo澈chè澄chéng池chí

Related Characters

水shuǐ汉hàn汽qì没méi洗xǐ渴kě永yǒng求qiú河hé油yóu

Homophones — Characters pronounced xiōng

凶xiōng兄xiōng胸xiōng雄xióng熊xióng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 汹 (xiōng) mean in Chinese?
汹 (xiōng) primarily means "torrential rush." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2599 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 汹 have?
汹 is written with 7 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 汹?
The radical associated with 汹 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 汹?
汹 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 凶 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵凶 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 汹?
Common words with 汹 include: 汹涌 (xiōng yǒng, "to surge up violently (of ocean, river, lake etc)"); 气势汹汹 (qì shì xiōng xiōng, "aggressive"); 波涛汹涌 (bō tāo xiōng yǒng, "waves surging forth"). There are over 3 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 汹 (xiōng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xiōng: 凶 (terrible), 兄 (elder brother), 胸 (chest), 雄 (male), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 汹 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 汹 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 汹 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play

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.