Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced hu
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced hu, including 乎 hū, 护 hù, 户 hù, 胡 hú, 互 hù. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
hu joins the initial h to the final u in one motion — say it as a single Mandarin beat with the tone over it, not as English letters in a row.
Initial h
Start the syllable on the initial h, then run straight into the final u — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final u
Keep the lips rounded.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (乎 hū, 护 hù, 户 hù, 胡 hú, 互 hù) and lock in their tones. 11 common characters share the sound hu, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
hu turns up here with 4 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 乎, 呼, 忽 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 胡, 湖, 糊… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 虎 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 护, 户, 互 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing hu inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
11 common characters in this group.