号 (hào) · number

Meanings

1 number
2 mark; sign
3 name; title
4 day of the month
5 size (clothing, equipment)
6 signal; bugle; horn
7 to mark; to label; to assign a number
8 to feel the pulse (TCM)
9 measure word for people in a headcount

Characters

号

hào

number; date; size; name; signal

Examples

HSK 1

今天几号？

Jīntiān jǐ hào?

What's today's date?

HSK 1

我们公司有一百多号人。

Wǒmen gōngsī yǒu yìbǎi duō hào rén.

Our company has over a hundred people.

HSK 2

我住在三号楼。

Wǒ zhù zài sān hào lóu.

I live in building number 3.

HSK 7-9

请把答案号上序号。

Qǐng bǎ dáàn hào shàng xùhào.

Please label the answers with serial numbers.

Tips

grammar

For calendar dates, spoken Chinese uses 号 while written/formal Chinese uses 日. Both mean "day of the month": 五月十二号 (spoken) = 五月十二日 (written).

mistakes

Two readings: 号 (4th tone) is the everyday noun/verb "number, mark, name, to label" - 号码, 信号, 几号. The rarer 号 (rising tone) means "to roar / wail / cry loudly" and survives mainly in 号叫, 哀号, 号啕大哭.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Top 口 - the indexing radical (Kangxi #30), picturing an open mouth crying out. The original meaning of 号 was a loud cry; from the cry came signal, marker, name, and number. Same vocal family as 叫 (shout), 吼 (roar), 唤 (summon).

phonetic

丂 kǎo

breath rising; obstructed exhalation

Bottom 丂 - an old graph of breath rising past an obstruction. Carries the sound and reinforces the cry: the mouth is forcing voice out against resistance. From that calling-out core came both readings - 号 (to yell, to wail) preserved literally in 号叫, and 号 extended to signal, mark, and number.