耗 (hào) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

耗

hào[hao4]Tone 4

to waste, consume, or news

HSK 6

Guru Deep Dive

English · to waste, consume, or news

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (耒) is narrower and slightly taller, while the right side (毛) is wider and balances the overall horizontal weight.

1. Meaning

to waste or consume

to spend or squandernews or informationto delay or dilly-dally (colloquial)

Verb / NounNeutral#action#resources#communication

Sample Usage

不要消耗时间。
Bù yào xiāohào shíjiān.
Do not waste time.
有什么新耗儿吗？
Yǒu shénme xīnghàor ma?
Is there any new news?

2. Sound

/[xaʊ̯⁵¹]/Tone: 51

耗

hàohao4

`(51)

=hào

Initial Consonant

Type: Velar Fricative

Sounds like: h sound as in 'house'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Gentle throat friction (like fogging glasses on a cold day).

Tongue & Mouth Position: Glottal fricative with the tongue flat and relaxed at the bottom of the mouth.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: ao rhymes with 'ow' in 'cow'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ow'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and drops sharply to the bottom, just like expressing a firm command or exclamation in English ('Stop!').

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the 4th tone falling pitch with a 3rd tone dipping pitch when spoken quickly in compound words like 消耗 xiāohào.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp chop downward with your hand, mirroring the falling drop of Tone 4.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (耒) is narrower and slightly taller, while the right side (毛) is wider and balances the overall horizontal weight.

4. Components

Radical 耒 · Plough Radical (agricultural plough)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 耒 (indicates agricultural exertion and labor)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 毛 (original sound: máo/hào phonetic phonetic shift family)

A farmer using a plough (耒) until his energy and hair (毛) are completely worn out and wasted.

耒 plough / labor
毛 hair / feather / to strip away

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

6· Phonetic Root: 毛 (máo)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the plough radical (耒) representing heavy physical exertion and (毛) indicating fine loss or stripping away, originally signifying the wearing down of energy or resources.

Semantic Evolution: Moved from physical exhaustion of labor to general depletion, waste of resources, and later extended to mean sending out signals or news.

In classical texts, it frequently denoted depletion of state provisions or military strength.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: コウ (kō)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

호

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine working in the fields with a heavy plough (耒) all day until every single hair (毛) on your body is soaked in sweat and your energy is totally WASTED.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

耗

hàowasteBase character with plough and hair

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

毛(máo)

Missing the left-side plough radical (耒).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

长时间开着空调会[___]大量电能。

Clue: xiāo hào

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the tone with 3rd tone (hǎo) and forgetting to write the left-side radical 耒 correctly.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 耗, what does it mean and how is it pronounced in Tone 4?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to waste' (hào) combining a plough and hair?

耗hàoto waste, consume, or news

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