彗 meaning and stroke order
Comet; broomstick
How to write 彗, stroke by stroke
11 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 彗
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- broom
How 彗 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A hand 彐 holding a bamboo broom 丰.
Radical: 彐 (snout), shared by 9 characters on this site.
How to remember 彗
The bottom part 彐 is a hand, and the two 丰 on top are the bristles of a bamboo broom it holds. A comet's glowing tail sweeps across the sky like that broom.
Today 彗 almost never appears alone. You will meet it mainly in 彗星 (huìxīng), the word for comet. Example: 我们昨晚看到了彗星。 (Wǒmen zuówǎn kàndào le huìxīng.) We saw a comet last night.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 彗 with 慧 (huì, wise), which adds 心 at the bottom and appears in 智慧 (zhìhuì). If the word is about a comet or a broom, there is no 心.
Common words with 彗
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 彗星 | huìxīng | comet |
彗 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 彗
Learning 彗 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 彗
How many strokes are in 彗?
彗 is written with 11 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 彗 mean?
彗 (huì) means comet; broomstick. A common word with it is 彗星 (huìxīng), meaning "comet".
How do you pronounce 彗?
彗 is pronounced huì, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 彗?
The radical of 彗 is 彐, which carries the idea of "snout". Dictionaries list 彗 under this radical.
Why is a comet called a broom star in Chinese?
彗星 literally means broom star. A comet's long tail looks like a broom sweeping the sky, so the broom character 彗 was used for it.
Is 彗 used for the everyday word for broom?
No. The modern word for broom is 扫帚 (sàozhou) or 扫把 (sàobǎ). The broom meaning of 彗 survives mainly in older texts and in explaining the word 彗星.