Meaning of 活
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to live
- alive
- living
- work
- workmanship
How to use 活
活 means alive or living, as in 活鱼 (huó yú, live fish), and it also means work, especially physical work, as in 干活儿 (gànhuór, to do work). It appears in many common words like 生活 (shēnghuó, life) and 活动 (huódòng, activity). Example: 这条鱼还活着。(Zhè tiáo yú hái huózhe.) This fish is still alive.
活 has the water radical 氵 on the left and 舌 (shé, tongue) on the right. Picture a moist tongue that can still move: water and a tongue together are signs that something is alive.
Common mistake: Learners often write the right side as 古 or 舍 instead of 舌; check that the top stroke of 舌 is a short slanting stroke. Also keep the second tone in huó, and do not confuse it with 话 (huà, speech), which has the speech radical 讠 instead of water.
活 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.
活 huó · to live · 9 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 活.
| 生活 | shēnghuó | to live; life |
| 活动 | huódòng | to exercise; to move about; to work out; shaky; unsteady; loose (tooth etc) |
| 干活儿 | gànhuór | erhua variant of 幹活|干活[gan4 huo2] |
| 活力 | huólì | energy; vitality |
| 快活 | kuàihuo | happy; cheerful |
| 活泼 | huópō | lively; vivacious |
| 活跃 | huóyuè | active; lively |
| 灵活 | línghuó | flexible; nimble |
| 生活费 | shēnghuófèi | cost of living; living expenses |
| 复活 | fùhuó | to revive; (lit. and fig.) to come back to life |
| 活该 | huógāi | (coll.) serve sb right; deservedly |
| 活儿 | huór | work; (lots of) things to do |
Questions about 活
What does 活 mean?
活 (huó) means "to live; alive" and is used as a adjective and verb.
How do you write 活?
活 is made of 1 character: 活 (9 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 活 an HSK word?
Yes. 活 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 活 and 生 when talking about being alive?
活 describes the state of being alive right now, as in 他还活着 (tā hái huózhe, he is still alive). 生 is more about birth or giving life, as in 出生 (chūshēng, to be born). They combine in 生活 (shēnghuó), meaning life or daily living.
Why is 快活 pronounced kuàihuo and not kuàihuó?
In 快活 (kuàihuo, happy, cheerful), the second syllable is usually read in the neutral tone in everyday speech. You will hear it said lightly and quickly, while 活 on its own keeps its second tone.