航 meaning and stroke order
Vessel, craft; to sail, to navigate
How to write 航, stroke by stroke
10 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
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- 10
Meaning of 航
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- boat
- ship
- craft
- to navigate
- to sail
- to fly
How 航 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Ship.
舟 gives the meaning and 亢 hints at the sound.
Radical: 舟 (boat), shared by 35 characters on this site.
How to remember 航
航 is a pictophonetic character: 舟 (zhōu, boat) on the left gives the meaning, and 亢 (kàng) on the right hints at the sound. Picture a boat 舟 sailing forward, and remember that the same idea of travel now covers planes and spacecraft too.
航 rarely stands alone. It appears in travel words like 航班 (hángbān, flight), 航空 (hángkōng, aviation) and 导航 (dǎoháng, to navigate). Example: 我的航班晚点了。(Wǒ de hángbān wǎndiǎn le.) My flight is delayed.
Common mistake: Learners often write the left side as 月 or 丹 instead of 舟, which has an extra dot and stroke inside. Also keep the second tone in háng, and do not confuse it with 行 (háng / xíng), which shares the sound but not the meaning.
Common words with 航
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 航班 | hángbān | (scheduled) flight; (scheduled) sailing | HSK 4 |
| 航空 | hángkōng | aviation | HSK 4 |
| 宇航员 | yǔhángyuán | astronaut | HSK 6 |
| 航行 | hángxíng | to sail; to fly | HSK 7-9 |
| 导航 | dǎoháng | (lit. and fig.) to navigate | HSK 7-9 |
| 航海 | hánghǎi | to sail the seas; maritime navigation | HSK 7-9 |
| 航天 | hángtiān | space flight | HSK 7-9 |
| 航天员 | hángtiānyuán | astronaut | HSK 7-9 |
| 航运 | hángyùn | shipping; transport | HSK 7-9 |
| 航线 | hángxiàn | air or shipping route | |
| 航向 | hángxiàng | course; direction (a ship or plane is heading in) | |
| 航空公司 | hángkōnggōngsī | airline | |
| 航道 | hángdào | waterway; ship channel | |
| 迷航 | míháng | (of a ship, aircraft or migratory bird) to lose its way; (fig.) to drift off course (in li |
航 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 航
How many strokes are in 航?
航 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 航 mean?
航 (háng) means vessel, craft; to sail, to navigate. A common word with it is 航班 (hángbān), meaning "(scheduled) flight; (scheduled) sailing".
How do you pronounce 航?
航 is pronounced háng, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 航?
The radical of 航 is 舟, which carries the idea of "boat". Dictionaries list 航 under this radical.
Is 航 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 航 is part of the HSK 4 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 3.
Why does a boat character appear in words about planes and space?
航 first meant sailing a ship, and the meaning later widened to any kind of navigation. So 航空 (hángkōng) is navigating the air and 航天 (hángtiān) is navigating space.
What is the difference between 宇航员 and 航天员?
Both mean astronaut. 航天员 (hángtiānyuán) is the official term used in mainland China for Chinese astronauts, while 宇航员 (yǔhángyuán) is a common general word, often used for astronauts from any country.