Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced hou
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced hou, including 后 hòu, 候 hòu, 厚 hòu, 侯 hóu, 喉 hóu. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
To say hou, lead with the initial h, then flow without a break into the final ou, holding the tone across the whole syllable.
Initial h
Start the syllable on the initial h, then run straight into the final ou — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final ou
Settle the final ou into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (后 hòu, 候 hòu, 厚 hòu, 侯 hóu, 喉 hóu) and lock in their tones. 7 common characters share the sound hou, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
hou turns up here with 3 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 侯, 喉, 猴 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 吼 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 后, 候, 厚 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing hou inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
7 common characters in this group.