何 · hé
what, why, where, which, how
Meanings & readings
Meaning & readings
what, why, where, which, how
- Mandarin
- hé
- Cantonese
- ho4
Unihan definitions and selected character readings. Read the word to establish its pronunciation in context.
Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese
Readings recorded for 何 in other language traditions. These are character-level records, not word translations or interchangeable pronunciations.
Japanese 日本語
Grouped by the source’s kana notation; no frequency ranking is implied.
On’yomi · katakana
Kun’yomi · hiragana
Katakana generally indicates on’yomi; hiragana generally indicates kun’yomi. The source does not identify everyday, rare, historical or name use per reading. Kana strings are preserved, including any written endings; consult a Japanese word entry for actual use.
Go deeperJisho ↗Wiktionary ↗
Korean 한국어
Hanja readings · Hangul
Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.
Go deeperNaver Hanja ↗Wiktionary ↗
Reading sources explained
- 하
- KS X 1001 (0) · Educational Hanja (E)
Vietnamese Tiếng Việt
Not recorded for this exact character in this dataset. This does not mean the language has no reading.
Form & structure
Writing & identity
- Unicode
- U+4F55
- Radical
- 人 · 9
- Strokes
- 7 · Unihan
- Residual
- 5
Source record · Unihan 17.0. Individual senses and historical claims have not yet been reviewed by zimai.
Stroke order
7 strokesModern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. Stroke medians: Make Me a Hanzi via HanziLookupJS, drawn as an even pen line.
Graphical structure
How to read these symbols
⿰ left–right · ⿱ above–below · ⿻ overlap. Dotted boxes indicate positions, not missing characters. Each symbol describes the components that follow it; nested symbols describe a component in more detail. Source codes identify alternative analyses, not a writing sequence or an etymology.
BabelStone IDS · 2025-06-27. Region tags are preserved; 〾 marks approximation and {n} identifies an unencoded source component. These describe graphical structure, not historical derivation.
Words & connections
Words using 何
Character connections
1 catalogue records include this shape in their first retained IDS. Graphical containment does not imply shared etymology.
Component roles · attributed
- 可 sound component · CJKVI analysis
Source analysis · 可聲
Line 4594 · ⿰亻可 · 可聲 · source reference 2870760
Source analyses, kept separate from modern IDS. CJKVI labels are not individually verified historical conclusions. Evidence & limits ↗
Follow this component
Reverse links to attributed component analyses. Open each character for its role, source and words. Shared components do not establish word ancestry.
Sentence context · 2 matches
我没有任何借口。
Source, contributors & licenses
Mandarin: Tatoeba #395290 · Original contributor: FeuDRenais · CC BY 2.0 FR · Attribution log · Current owner: GlossaMatik
English: Tatoeba #395289 · Original contributor: FeuDRenais · CC BY 2.0 FR · Attribution log · Current owner: CM
Source text unchanged. Original contributor and text editors are credited from the source log, separately from the current owner.
History & distinctions
Related forms
No simplified/traditional variant property is retained for this record.
Historical readings
- Middle Chinese
- ha · 胡歌 反切 · #735
- Middle Chinese
- haX · 胡可 反切 · #1740
Guangyun-based transcriptions · PHONO-ML · CC BY 4.0. These describe historical reading categories, not modern word pronunciation.
Source row & reading categories
CSV line 6022 · ha = 果開一平歌匣 · haX = 果開一上歌匣
Automatically generated in the source dataset; the authors checked a subset and acknowledge possible errors. All source readings are retained separately. Notation & method ↗
Sources & reference
Evidence & next depth
Retained Unihan properties
- kMandarin
- hé
- kCantonese
- ho4
- kDefinition
- what, why, where, which, how
- kTotalStrokes
- 7
- kRSUnicode
- 9.5
- kGradeLevel
- 4
- kTGH
- 2013:771
Readings across dictionaries
- Hanyu Da Zidian
- hè,hé 10130.040
- Xiandai Hanyu · 1983
- hé 0450.020
- Tongyong Guifan · 2013
- hé 134.010
- Reading counts · XDHYPLCD
- hé(691)
Reference desk
- Fanqie spellings
- 胡歌 胡可
- Kangxi positions
- 0098.150
- Guangyun positions
- 161.15 304.48
- GSR references
- 0001f
- Cangjie
- OMNR
- Four-corner
- 2122.0