荤 (hūn) is a Chinese character meaning “meat or fish food”. It is written from 艹 (grass / plant radical) and 军 (army; troops; military), one above the other, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “meat or fish food”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
艹 + 军
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分 ⿱艹军，对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：笔画 0–2 为「艹」，笔画 3–8 与「军」逐笔对应（3+6=9 画）
Memory aid
Grass (艹) sitting on top of an army (军): the army marches on food, and the food they want is not the grass on top but the meat underneath.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 荤菜hūn càimeat dish; non-vegetarian dish荤 = hūn
- 荤素hūn sùmeat and vegetarian food (taken together)荤 = hūn
Go deeper
All readings
meat or fish food
meat or fish food; non-vegetarian food (opposite of 素)
鱼肉等动物性食物，与「素」相对。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 荤菜hūn càimeat dish; non-vegetarian dish荤 = hūn
- 荤素hūn sùmeat and vegetarian food (taken together)荤 = hūn
Sound component
军 family onset shift
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 荤 mean?
荤 (hūn) means meat or fish food; non-vegetarian food (opposite of 素).
How do you pronounce 荤?
It is pronounced hūn.
What parts is 荤 made of?
艹 (grass / plant radical) and 军 (army; troops; military), one above the other. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分 ⿱艹军，对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：笔画 0–2 为「艹」，笔画 3–8 与「军」逐笔对应（3+6=9 画）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 荤 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 荤?
艹. 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 荤?
Common ones are 荤菜 and 荤素. The reading of 荤 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.