Meaning of 湖
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- lake
How to use 湖
湖 is used for lakes and often appears in place names like 西湖 (Xīhú, West Lake) and 洞庭湖 (Dòngtíng Hú). On its own it is common in everyday speech, while 湖泊 (húpō) is more formal or scientific. Example: 我们去湖边散步吧。(Wǒmen qù húbiān sànbù ba.) Let's go for a walk by the lake.
湖 is built from the water radical 氵 on the left and 胡 (hú) on the right, which gives the sound. Picture water gathered next to a place called 胡, and you have a lake that sounds just like hú.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write 胡 (hú) without the water radical 氵, or confuse 湖 with 糊 (hú, paste), which has 米 on the left instead. Remember that a lake needs water, so it takes 氵.
湖 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.
湖 hú · lake · 12 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 湖.
Questions about 湖
What does 湖 mean?
湖 (hú) means "lake" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 湖?
湖 is made of 1 character: 湖 (12 strokes). That is 12 strokes in total.
Is 湖 an HSK word?
Yes. 湖 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the measure word for 湖?
The usual measure word is 个 (gè), as in 一个湖 (yí ge hú). In more descriptive writing you may also see 一片湖 (yí piàn hú) for a wide stretch of lake water.
Why does 江湖 mean more than rivers and lakes?
Literally 江湖 (jiānghú) is rivers and lakes, but it came to mean the wider world outside official society. Today it often refers to the world of wandering martial artists in wuxia stories, or to living by your wits in society.