háo
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 a moat; a city trench filled with water
  2. 2 name of a river in Anhui

Examples

Gǔ chéngqiáng wài yǒu yì dào shēn háo.
There was a deep moat outside the old city wall.
Zhuāngzǐ hé Huìzǐ yóu yú háo liáng zhī shàng.
Zhuangzi and Huizi strolled on the bridge over the Hao River.

Tips

culture
is a water-filled moat (the dry-trench word is ). It is also the river in the famous 庄子 passage where, on the bridge over the Hao, he debates with Huizi whether fish are happy, 濠梁 ('Hao bridge') has since meant carefree philosophical leisure.

Components

radical
shuǐ
water
The water radical distinguishes this water-filled moat from its dry-trench twin (which takes the earth radical instead).
phonetic
háo
grand; heroic
supplies the sound háo exactly; it carries no meaning here, working only as the phonetic on the right.

Stroke Order

háo