互 (hù) is a Chinese character meaning “mutual”. It is written from ㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇜ (left-falling stroke turning upward (pie-zhe)) and ㇕ (horizontal-turning stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke), and takes 4 strokes.
Build the character for “mutual; each other”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
㇐ + ㇜ + ㇕ + ㇐
Overlapping structure
- ㇐ horizontal stroke unknown
- ㇜ left-falling stroke turning upward (pie-zhe) unknown
- ㇕ horizontal-turning stroke unknown
- ㇐ horizontal stroke unknown
Structure from: stroke-level decomposition verified against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 medians (4 strokes); no reliable component IDS available
Memory aid
A flat bar (㇐) on top and another (㇐) at the bottom. Between them one stroke turns left-then-right (㇜) and the other turns right-then-down (㇕), hooking into each other from opposite sides — each one holding the other.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
4 strokes
In real words
- 互相hù xiāngmutually; each other互 = hù
- 互联网hù lián wǎngthe Internet互 = hù
Go deeper
All readings
mutual
mutual; each other; reciprocally
彼此对待相同；相互。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 互相hù xiāngmutually; each other互 = hù
- 互联网hù lián wǎngthe Internet互 = hù
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 互 mean?
互 (hù) means mutual; each other; reciprocally.
How do you pronounce 互?
It is pronounced hù.
What parts is 互 made of?
㇐ (horizontal stroke) and ㇜ (left-falling stroke turning upward (pie-zhe)) and ㇕ (horizontal-turning stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke). The recorded source is: stroke-level decomposition verified against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 medians (4 strokes); no reliable component IDS available. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 互 have?
4. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 互?
二. 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 互?
Common ones are 互相 and 互联网. The reading of 互 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.