Meaning
(interrog. part.)
Chinese: 文言语气词；也见于“似乎”。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “hu” becomes a different word in each tone. 乎 is the 1st tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 几乎jī hūalmost; nearly; practically
- 似乎sì hūit seems; seemingly; as if
- 在乎zài huto rest with; to lie in; to be due to (a certain attribute); (often used in the negative) to care about
- 不在乎bù zài hunot to care
- 合乎hé hūto accord with; to conform to
Example Sentence
他似乎有点儿不高兴。Tā sì hū yǒu diǎnr bù gāo xìng.He seems a little unhappy.
他he似乎sì hūit seems有点儿yǒu diǎn rslightly不bùnot高兴gāo xìnghappy。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
A pictograph related to breath rising. It is a literary particle: a final question/exclamation marker (不亦乐乎), and a preposition like 于 ‘at, in, than’ (合乎, 几乎, 在乎).
A way to remember it
A bookish particle: 几乎 (almost), 在乎 (to care).