Meaning of 户
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- a household
- door
- family
How to use 户
As a measure word, 户 counts households or families, much like saying "homes" in English. It also appears in many common words such as 窗户 (chuānghu, window), 客户 (kèhù, client) and 账户 (zhànghù, account). Example: 这栋楼住了二十户人家。 (Zhè dòng lóu zhù le èrshí hù rénjiā.) Twenty families live in this building.
Picture 户 (hù) as a single door panel: the dot on top is the latch and the frame below is the door hanging on its hinge. One door stands for one family behind it, which is why 户 means a household.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 户 (hù) with 尸 (shī, corpse), which lacks the dot on top, or with 房 (fáng, house), which adds 方 underneath. Also note that in 窗户 (chuānghu) the 户 loses its tone and is read lightly.
户 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.
户 hù · a household · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 户.
| 窗户 | chuānghu | window |
| 客户 | kèhù | client; customer |
| 用户 | yònghù | user; consumer |
| 账户 | zhànghù | (bank, computer etc) account |
| 户外 | hùwài | outdoors; (attributive) outdoor |
| 住户 | zhùhù | household; inhabitant |
| 挨家挨户 | āijiā-āihù | to go from house to house |
| 家喻户晓 | jiāyù-hùxiǎo | understood by everyone (idiom); well known; a household name |
| 落户 | luòhù | to settle; to set up home |
| 家家户户 | jiājiāhùhù | each and every family (idiom); every household |
| 门当户对 | méndāng-hùduì | the families are well-matched in terms of social status (idiom); (of a prospective marriag |
| 千家万户 | qiānjiā-wànhù | every family (idiom) |
Questions about 户
What does 户 mean?
户 (hù) means "a household; door" and is used as a measure word.
How do you write 户?
户 is made of 1 character: 户 (4 strokes). That is 4 strokes in total.
Is 户 an HSK word?
Yes. 户 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 户 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 户 is written 戶.
What is the difference between 户 and 门 when meaning door?
门 (mén) is the everyday word for a door or gate. 户 rarely means door on its own in modern speech and mostly survives in compounds like 窗户 and in set phrases such as 家家户户 (jiājiā hùhù, every household).
Why does 户 appear in words like 用户 and 账户 that have nothing to do with homes?
The idea of a household as a registered unit extended to any registered party or record. So 用户 (yònghù) is a registered user, and 账户 (zhànghù) is an account held in someone's name.