Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

draw; picture; painting

Chinese: 拉、画。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “hua” becomes a different word in each tone. 画 is the 4th 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

  • 画家huà jiāpainter
  • 画儿huà rpicture; drawing; painting
  • 图画tú huàdrawing; picture
  • 动画片dòng huà piànanimated film
  • 画面huà miànscene; tableau; picture; image

Example Sentence

妹妹很喜欢画画。Mèi mei hěn xǐ huan huà huà.My younger sister loves to draw.

妹妹Mèi meiyounger sisterhěnvery喜欢xǐ huanto like画画huà huàto draw

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

A hand with a brush (the top) marking out the boundaries of a field (田) within a frame: to draw lines. It means ‘a picture / to draw’. Simplified from 畫.

A way to remember it

A brush ruling lines around a field (田) — a drawing.

Easy to confuse with

  • shū‘Book’: also brush-work, but for writing words rather than drawing.