活 (huó) · to live; alive; living

Meanings

1 to live; alive; living
2 work; job
3 lively; vivid

Characters

活

huó

to live; alive; lively; work

Contains 氵 (water) + 舌 (tongue) - where there is water and speech, there is life.

Examples

HSK 1

他活到了九十岁。

Tā huó dào le jiǔshí suì.

He lived to ninety years old.

HSK 2

鱼还活着呢。

Yú hái huó zhe ne.

The fish is still alive.

HSK 2

这些活儿很累。

Zhèxiē huór hěn lèi.

This work is very tiring.

Tips

usage

活着 specifically means 'to be alive / living'. 活 also appears in: 生活 (life/lifestyle), 活动 (activity), 干活 (to work).

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (radical form)

Three water drops on the left - the contracted form of 水, indexing radical. Living things need water; 活 belongs to the water-of-life cluster. Same radical anchors 流 (flow), 涌 (gush), 泉 (spring), 潮 (tide) - vital-flow imagery rather than just liquid.

phonetic

舌 shé

tongue

Right phonetic 舌 - historically supplied the sound (shé → huó with heavy Old Chinese drift; the family includes 话, 适, where the same right side appears). Pictographically a tongue protruding from a mouth (千 over 口). Combined picture: water + tongue = a tongue still able to taste, the simplest mark of being alive.