Meaning of 或
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- maybe
- perhaps
- might
- possibly
- or
How to use 或
As a conjunction, 或 means "or" in statements, and it often appears in more formal or written Chinese. In speech, people usually say 或者 (huòzhě) instead. Example: 你可以喝茶或咖啡。(Nǐ kěyǐ hē chá huò kāfēi.) You can drink tea or coffee.
或 (huò) has the weapon part 戈 (gē, dagger-axe) on the right, plus a small 口 (kǒu) and a line on the left. Picture a guard holding a dagger-axe at a gate, unsure whether to let someone in or not, so the character means "or" and "maybe."
Common mistake: Learners often use 或 or 或者 in questions that ask someone to choose, but questions need 还是 (háishi). For example, say 你要茶还是咖啡？(Nǐ yào chá háishi kāfēi?), not 你要茶或咖啡？
或 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
或 huò · maybe · 8 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 或.
Questions about 或
What does 或 mean?
或 (huò) means "maybe; perhaps" and is used as a conjunction.
How do you write 或?
或 is made of 1 character: 或 (8 strokes). That is 8 strokes in total.
Is 或 an HSK word?
Yes. 或 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 或 and 或者?
They mean the same thing. 或 is shorter and sounds more written or formal, while 或者 (huòzhě) is the everyday spoken form. 或 also appears in fixed expressions like 或多或少 (huòduō-huòshǎo, more or less).
Can 或 mean "maybe" by itself?
Yes, but mostly in formal writing. In daily speech, "maybe" is usually 或许 (huòxǔ) or 可能 (kěnéng), for example 他或许不来了。(Tā huòxǔ bù lái le.) He may not come.