化 (huà) is a Chinese character meaning “to change”. It is written from 亻 (person (the form 人 takes on the left)) and 匕 (ancient spoon; dagger), side by side, and takes 4 strokes.
Build the character for “to change; to transform”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
亻 + 匕
Left–right structure
Structure from: Unicode U+5316 与 hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 现代字形核验（左「亻」2 笔 + 右「匕」2 笔 = 4 笔）
Memory aid
On the left a person (亻) standing upright; on the right 匕, a two-stroke shape leaning the other way. Both parts are really in this character: the same little figure, turned around — something has changed into something else.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
4 strokes
In real words
- 变化biàn huàchange; variation化 = huà
- 文化wén huàculture化 = huà
- 化妆huà zhuāngto put on makeup化 = huà
- 化妆品huà zhuāng pǐncosmetics化 = huà
- 化纤huà xiānsynthetic fiber化 = huà
- 净化jìng huàto purify化 = huà
- 化脓huà nóngto fester; to suppurate化 = huà
- 氯化钠lǜ huà nàsodium chloride; table salt化 = huà
Go deeper
All readings
to change; to transform
to change; to transform; to turn into; also a suffix like English "-ize / -ification"
改变；转变成另一种样子或性质。也作后缀，相当于英语的「-ize / -ification」。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 变化biàn huàchange; variation化 = huà
- 文化wén huàculture化 = huà
- 化妆huà zhuāngto put on makeup化 = huà
- 化妆品huà zhuāng pǐncosmetics化 = huà
- 化纤huà xiānsynthetic fiber化 = huà
- 净化jìng huàto purify化 = huà
- 化脓huà nóngto fester; to suppurate化 = huà
- 氯化钠lǜ huà nàsodium chloride; table salt化 = huà
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 化 mean?
化 (huà) means to change; to transform; to turn into; also a suffix like English "-ize / -ification".
How do you pronounce 化?
It is pronounced huà.
What parts is 化 made of?
亻 (person (the form 人 takes on the left)) and 匕 (ancient spoon; dagger), side by side. The recorded source is: Unicode U+5316 与 hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 现代字形核验（左「亻」2 笔 + 右「匕」2 笔 = 4 笔）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 化 have?
4. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 化?
匕. 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 化?
Common ones are 变化 and 文化. The reading of 化 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.