户 (hù) · household; family

Meanings

1 household; family
2 door

Characters

户

hù

door; household; family

Examples

HSK 3

请带好你的户口本。

Qǐng dàihǎo nǐ de hùkǒuběn.

Please bring your household registration booklet.

HSK 4

开户需要身份证。

Kāihù xūyào shēnfènzhèng.

You need an ID card to open an account.

HSK 5

这个小区有五百户居民。

Zhège xiǎoqū yǒu wǔbǎi hù jūmín.

This residential compound has 500 households.

Tips

culture

户口 is China's household registration system, tying a person to their registered city for schools, healthcare, and social services.

usage

户 appears in many compounds: 用户 (user), 客户 (client), 账户 (account).

Components

pictograph

户 hù

single-leaf door; household

Self-component. Pictograph of a single-leaf door - exactly half of 門 (the double-door). The image is one panel hinged on its frame. From 'door' came 'household' (one door = one family unit), the dominant modern sense. As Kangxi radical #63 it heads characters about doors and dwellings: 房, 扇, 扁.

Radical

Door Kangxi #63

Pictograph of a single-leaf door (half of 門). As a radical it points to doors and openings, by extension households - 房 (room/house), 扇 (fan/leaf of door), 扁 (flat, originally a tablet hung above a door), 启 (open). The standalone meaning has shifted decisively toward 'household' in modern Chinese.