Meaning of 百货
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- general merchandise
How to use 百货
百货 usually appears in compounds, most often 百货商店 (bǎihuò shāngdiàn) or 百货公司 (bǎihuò gōngsī), meaning department store. Example: 我们去百货商店买衣服吧。(Wǒmen qù bǎihuò shāngdiàn mǎi yīfu ba.) Let's go to the department store to buy clothes.
百 (bǎi) means hundred and 货 (huò) means goods, so 百货 is "a hundred kinds of goods." Picture a store shelf holding a hundred different items, and you have general merchandise.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write 货 (huò) as 化 (huà) without the 贝 underneath. 贝 is the money and goods part and is essential here. Also keep the tone on 货 falling (huò), not rising.
百货 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.
百 bǎi · hundred · 6 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
货 huò · goods · 8 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Related words
Words that share a character with 百货.
| 老百姓 | lǎobǎixìng | ordinary people; the "person in the street" |
| 售货员 | shòuhuòyuán | sales clerk; sales associate; retail salesperson |
| 百分点 | bǎifēndiǎn | percentage point |
| 货车 | huòchē | truck; van |
| 货物 | huòwù | goods; commodity |
| 货币 | huòbì | currency; monetary |
| 百合 | bǎihé | (botany) lily; (ACG) (slang) yuri (genre depicting romantic or intimate relationships betw |
| 货运 | huòyùn | freight transport; cargo |
| 千方百计 | qiānfāng-bǎijì | lit. thousand ways, a hundred plans (idiom); by every possible means |
| 百科全书 | bǎikē quánshū | encyclopedia |
| 百分比 | bǎifēnbǐ | percentage |
| 水货 | shuǐhuò | smuggled goods; unauthorized goods |
Questions about 百货
What does 百货 mean?
百货 (bǎihuò) means "general merchandise" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 百货?
百货 is made of 2 characters: 百 (6 strokes), 货 (8 strokes). That is 14 strokes in total.
Is 百货 an HSK word?
Yes. 百货 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 百货 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 百货 is written 百貨.
Can 百货 be used alone to mean a department store?
In everyday speech people usually say 百货商店 or 百货公司 for the store itself. Alone, 百货 refers to the merchandise. In store names, though, you often see it used alone, as in 上海第一百货.
What is the difference between 百货 and 货物?
百货 means the wide range of everyday goods sold in retail stores. 货物 (huòwù) is a general word for goods or cargo, often used in shipping and trade contexts.