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noun HSK 3
hú
lake

Meaning

湖 means lake, referring to a large body of water surrounded by land. It's one of the basic geography terms in Chinese and appears in many place names throughout China, such as 西湖 (West Lake) in Hangzhou or 洞庭湖 (Dongting Lake).

Usage

Native speakers use 湖 to refer to natural or artificial lakes. It commonly appears in compound words for lake names and is often paired with measure words when counting lakes. The word is neutral in register and used in both spoken and written contexts.

Examples

  1. 01
    这个湖很大，我们可以在湖边散步。
    Zhège hú hěn dà, wǒmen kěyǐ zài hú biān sànbù.
    This lake is very large, we can take a walk by the lakeside.
  2. 02
    杭州的西湖非常有名。
    Hángzhōu de Xī Hú fēicháng yǒumíng.
    West Lake in Hangzhou is very famous.

Measure words

  • 个gè一个湖
  • 片piàn一片湖

Common collocations

  • 湖边
    hú biān
    lakeside
  • 湖水
    hú shuǐ
    lake water
  • 湖泊
    hú pō
    lakes (formal/literary)
  • 西湖
    Xī Hú
    West Lake (famous lake in Hangzhou)

Origin

The character 湖 consists of the water radical 氵(water) on the left and 胡 (hú) on the right as the phonetic component, indicating it's a water-related word pronounced 'hú'.

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