吼 (hǒu) is a Chinese character meaning “to roar”. It is written from 口 (mouth) and 孔 (hole; opening), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “to roar”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
口 + 孔
Left–right structure
Structure from: modern-form decomposition (IDS ⿰口孔, checked against hanzi-writer-data stroke order)
Memory aid
A mouth (口) opened as wide as a hole (孔) — that is what a roar looks like.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 吼叫hǒu jiàoto roar; to howl吼 = hǒu
- 大吼dà hǒuto roar loudly; to bellow吼 = hǒu
Go deeper
All readings
to roar
to roar; to howl; to shout angrily
（猛兽）大声叫；人因愤怒而大声喊。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 吼叫hǒu jiàoto roar; to howl吼 = hǒu
- 大吼dà hǒuto roar loudly; to bellow吼 = hǒu
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 吼 mean?
吼 (hǒu) means to roar; to howl; to shout angrily.
How do you pronounce 吼?
It is pronounced hǒu.
What parts is 吼 made of?
口 (mouth) and 孔 (hole; opening), side by side. The recorded source is: modern-form decomposition (IDS ⿰口孔, checked against hanzi-writer-data stroke order). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 吼 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 吼?
口. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 吼?
Common ones are 吼叫 and 大吼. The reading of 吼 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.