HanziGuru.餬 · hú
餬
hú[hu2]Tone 2

congee, paste, to feed oneself

HSK 5
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糊
Guru Deep Dive

English · congee, paste, to feed oneself

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Topology:Left-right
Strokes:15
Writing Balance Rule: The left side (the rice radical) must be compact and narrow, leaving sufficient horizontal space for the complex right-side phonetic component so the character does not tilt.
Simplification Logic: The traditional form 餬 has radical 飠 (food) on the left, which was simplified in the modern character 糊 to 米 (rice) on the left, reducing stroke complexity while retaining the food-related semantic clue.
1. Meaning

congee or paste, and used in compound expressions regarding livelihood

muddled, confused, pasted togetherto paste or glue (when used in other compounds)
Noun / Verb / Bound FormNeutral / LiteraryBound morpheme#food#materials#survival
Sample Usage
  • 糊口
    hú kǒu
    to make a living, to feed one's mouth
  • 米糊
    mǐ hú
    rice paste, rice congee
2. Sound
/[xu³⁵]/Tone: 35
餬
húhu2
++
´(35)
=hú
Initial Consonant
h
Type: Velar Fricative
Sounds like: h sound like in 'hat'
Unaspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: Gentle throat friction (like fogging glasses on a cold day).
Tongue & Mouth Position: Back of the tongue approaches the soft palate with friction, with airflow expelled strongly.
Final Rhyme
u
Vowel Group: -u vowel group
Sounds like: oo sound in 'boot'
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'oo'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T2 (35)
2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Starts at a medium pitch and rises sharply to the top, exactly like asking 'Huh?' in disbelief.
Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 3 syllable, hú changes to a rising tone similar to Tone 2, but its underlying category is Tone 2 (rising 35).
👂
Listening trap: Do not confuse with the first tone (hū, high flat) or fourth tone (hù, sharp drop). Tone 2 rises dynamically.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Raise your hand smoothly from bottom-left to top-right, mimicking an airplane taking off or asking a question with 'What?'
3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 15 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (the rice radical) must be compact and narrow, leaving sufficient horizontal space for the complex right-side phonetic component so the character does not tilt.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 餬 has radical 飠 (food) on the left, which was simplified in the modern character 糊 to 米 (rice) on the left, reducing stroke complexity while retaining the food-related semantic clue.

4. Components

Radical 米 · Rice Radical (rice, grain)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 米 (Indicates food, grain, or congee substance)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 胡 (original sound: hú)

The left component 米 (rice) provides the substance of food or congee, while the right component 胡 (hú) provides the pronunciation and hints at a container or beard/covering meaning.

  • 米 Rice / grain (semantic clue)
  • 胡 Hú sound / ancient name (phonetic clue)
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined the radical for grain (米) indicating food/paste and the sound-bearer 胡 to represent thick grain paste or congee used to sustain life.

Semantic Evolution: Originally denoting thick rice soup or gluey paste, it expanded over time into compound idioms such as 'hú kǒu' (糊口) meaning scraping together enough food to survive.

  • The shift from the food radical 飠 to 米 in modern simplified Chinese streamlined writing for everyday grain terms.
6. Sinosphere
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: コ / Kun: nori
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story

You are making a sticky RICE (米) paste so ANCIENT (胡) nomads can glue their tents together and feed themselves (糊).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
胡
húbeard, recklessWithout the rice radical on the left, it is just the phonetic root hú.
湖
húlakeUses the water radical (氵) instead of the rice radical (米).
蝴蝶
hú diébutterflyUses the insect radical (虫) on the left.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
湖(hú)
湖 has water (氵) because lakes are made of water; 糊 has rice (米) because congee is made of grain.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
他每天辛苦工作，只為了勉強[___]。
Clue: hú kǒu
Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the radical on the left with the water radical (氵), leading to mixing up 糊 (paste/congee) with 湖 (lake).

Memory Prompts
Recognition: What does 糊 mean when seen in the word 糊口 (húkǒu)?
Production: How do you write the character for 'congee/paste' which features the rice radical on the left?
Real-World Video Context

Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.

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餬húcongee, paste, to feed oneself
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