Meaning
to live; alive; living; work; workmanship
Chinese: 活着、灵活。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “huo” becomes a different word in each tone. 活 is the 2nd 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
- 生活shēng huóto live; life; livelihood
- 活动huó dòngto exercise; to move about; to work out; shaky
- 干活儿gàn huó rcolloquial (-r) form of 干活
- 活泼huó polively; vivacious; brisk; active
- 活力huó lìenergy; vitality; vigor; vital force
Example Sentence
大家的生活越来越好。Dà jiā de shēng huó yuè lái yuè hǎo.Everyone's life is getting better and better.
大家Dà jiāeveryone的deof生活shēng huóto live越来越yuè lái yuèmore and more好hǎogood。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The water radical 氵 (meaning) plus 舌 (sound element): flowing water keeps things alive. It means ‘to live / alive / lively’.
A way to remember it
Flowing water (氵) — alive.
Easy to confuse with
- 话‘Speech’: the same 舌, but with the speech radical 讠 instead of water.