虎 (hǔ) · tiger

Measure Word

一只虎 zhī

Meanings

1 tiger
2 brave; fierce

Characters

虎

hǔ

tiger

Examples

HSK 1

虎年到了！

Hǔ nián dào le!

The Year of the Tiger is here!

HSK 4

老虎是森林之王。

Lǎohǔ shì sēnlín zhī wáng.

The tiger is the king of the forest.

HSK 7-9

不入虎穴，焉得虎子。

Bù rù hǔxué, yān dé hǔzǐ.

If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you catch the tiger's cub?

Tips

culture

The tiger is one of the most powerful symbols in Chinese culture. It represents bravery, power, and authority. 虎 is the 3rd animal in the Chinese zodiac. Many idioms feature tigers: 骑虎难下 (riding a tiger and unable to dismount - stuck in a difficult situation).

usage

In everyday speech, 老虎 (lǎohǔ, lit. 'old tiger') is far more common than 虎 alone. The character 虎 appears as a radical in characters like 虐 (abuse), 虑 (worry), and 虚 (empty/false).

Components

radical

虍 hū

tiger-stripes radical

Top-left 虍 is the tiger-stripes radical (Kangxi 141), depicting the head and striped body of a tiger drawn from the side. It is the indexing radical and caps the whole tiger family: 虎, 虐, 虚, 虑, 虞. Recognising this cap tells you the char relates to a tiger.

semantic

几 jī

small table; legs-stylised

Bottom 几 is graphic residue of the tiger's hind legs in the original drawing - early 虎 was a full-body picture, legs stylised down to two strokes. Reading 几 as 'small table' is incidental; here it functions as the standing legs giving 虎 its prowling silhouette.