画
to paint; to draw; a painting
HSK level
- Pinyin
- huà
- Part of speech
- verb
- Level
- HSK 3
- Strokes
- 8
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 幅 / 张
- In episodes
- 1
Stroke order for 画
画 is written with 8 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
What does 画 mean?
画 (huà) is both a verb meaning 'to draw' or 'to paint' and a noun meaning 'a drawing' or 'painting.'
Chinese makes no distinction between drawing and painting — the medium doesn't matter; whether you use pencil, brush, or marker, the verb is 画. As a noun, 画 covers any flat visual artwork: a child's crayon sketch (一幅画), a Tang-dynasty masterpiece (一幅古画), or a wall-hung painting. The standard measure word is 幅 (fú) for finished artworks.
English speakers should note: 画 is not used for 'drawing' in the abstract sense of 'a drawing lesson' (that's 画画 huà huà, with the noun reduplicated — 'draw-drawings'). The character itself is pictographic-ish — the bottom looks like a framed field with brushstrokes inside.
Memory hook: Inside the box (框) are brushstrokes — a framed picture, both the act and the result.
Hear 画 in real episodes
画 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
有一个人很喜欢画。
There is a man who loves paintings very much.
A Museum Wouldn't Show George Lucas the Painting He Asked For, So He Spent Fifteen Years and a Billion Dollars Building His Own
Example sentences
我女儿很喜欢画画。
Wǒ nǚ'ér hěn xǐhuan huà huà.
My daughter really loves drawing.
spoken
他给我画了一张地图。
Tā gěi wǒ huàle yì zhāng dìtú.
He drew me a map.
neutral
这幅画真漂亮。
Zhè fú huà zhēn piàoliang.
This painting is really beautiful.
spoken
孩子在纸上画了一只小狗。
Háizi zài zhǐ shàng huàle yì zhī xiǎo gǒu.
The child drew a puppy on the paper.
neutral
我不会画人。
Wǒ bú huì huà rén.
I can't draw people.
spoken
Common phrases with 画
Synonyms
绘画 is the formal/academic term for 'painting (art form).' Use it in art-school or written contexts (绘画课 'painting class'). 画 is the everyday verb and noun. You'd say 我喜欢画画 casually, 我学习绘画 more formally.
图 is 'diagram / chart / picture' — leans toward functional images (地图 'map,' 图表 'chart'). 画 is artistic. A painting hanging on a wall is 画; a map or pie chart is 图.
Don't confuse 画 with
Same pinyin syllable, first tone instead of fourth. 花 = flower / to spend. 画 = to paint / a painting. Both common HSK 3 — keep tones straight.
Same pinyin and tone as 画, but 话 means 'speech / words' (说话 'to speak,' 电话 'telephone'). 画 is visual art. Tonal context is identical, so meaning must be read from the surrounding sentence.
划 (also 'huà' in this reading) means 'to plan / to mark / to scratch.' Visually similar in some fonts. 计划 'plan' uses 划, not 画.
FAQ
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 画 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
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