胡 (hú) is a Chinese character meaning “beard”. It is written from 古 (old; ancient) and 月 (moon; month), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “beard”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
古 + 月
Left–right structure
Structure from: modern-glyph decomposition: IDS ⿰古月, checked against hanzi-writer-data stroke order (5 + 4 = 9 strokes)
Memory aid
An old man (古) with a moon-pale (月) face — what you notice first is the long 胡, his beard.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 胡子hú zibeard; moustache; facial hair胡 = hú
- 刮胡子guā hú zito shave (one's beard)胡 = hú
- 胡椒hú jiāoblack pepper胡 = hú
- 胡须hú xūbeard; whiskers; facial hair胡 = hú
Go deeper
All readings
beard; recklessly
beard; moustache; (before a verb) recklessly, wildly, without good reason
嘴周围和下巴上的毛；用在动词前表示没有根据、随便乱来。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 胡子hú zibeard; moustache; facial hair胡 = hú
- 刮胡子guā hú zito shave (one's beard)胡 = hú
- 胡椒hú jiāoblack pepper胡 = hú
- 胡须hú xūbeard; whiskers; facial hair胡 = hú
Sound component
古 family onset shift
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 胡 mean?
胡 (hú) means beard; moustache; (before a verb) recklessly, wildly, without good reason.
How do you pronounce 胡?
It is pronounced hú.
What parts is 胡 made of?
古 (old; ancient) and 月 (moon; month), side by side. The recorded source is: modern-glyph decomposition: IDS ⿰古月, checked against hanzi-writer-data stroke order (5 + 4 = 9 strokes). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 胡 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 胡?
月. 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 胡?
Common ones are 胡子 and 刮胡子. The reading of 胡 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.