How to write 喝 (hē, “to drink”)

喝, an HSK 1 character, is read hē for “to drink”, and also hè (“to shout”). China writes it with 12 strokes and Japan with 11 strokes. On its own it is an HSK 1 word; it also forms 吃喝玩乐 (“to eat”), 喝彩 (“to acclaim”) and 吃喝 (“to eat and drink”). Japanese reads it katsu, “hoarse”, as a JLPT N1 kanji.

Pinyin: hē, hè
Strokes: 12
HSK: 1
Radical: 口 (“mouth”)

Stroke by stroke

As a left-right character it splits into 口 (“mouth”, the radical), strokes 1–3; 曷 (“why”), strokes 4–12, written the left part first.

top leftdownwards
top leftrightwards → down and left
leftrightwards
topdownwards
toprightwards → downwards
toprightwards
toprightwards
centerdown and right → down and left
centerrightwards → downwards
centerdown and left
centerdown and right
centerdownwards → rightwards

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

Japan writes it with 11 strokes and China with 12 strokes, and both counts match the reference lists (KANJIDIC2, Unihan).

Japanese · KanjiVG · 11 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 12 strokes

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

Pinyin	Meanings	Traditional	In words
hē first tone	to drink; variant of 嗬 (hē)	—	吃喝玩乐吃喝喝茶喝高
hè fourth tone	to shout	—	喝彩喝道

HSK 2025 syllabus: level 1
2021 standard: level 1
HSK 2.0: in a level 1 word
Words with it: 38 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 喝

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
喝	hē	to drink; variant of 嗬 (hē) HSK 1
吃喝玩乐吃喝玩樂	chī-hē-wán-lè	to eat, drink, play and be merry (idiom); to abandon oneself to a… HSK 7-9
喝彩	hècǎi	to acclaim; to cheer HSK 7-9
吃喝	chīhē	to eat and drink; food and drink
喝茶	hēchá	to drink tea; to get engaged
喝道	hèdào	to shout (usually followed by the words shouted); to walk ahead of an…
喝高	hēgāo	to get drunk
好喝	hǎohē	tasty (drinks)
大吃二喝	dàchīèrhē	to eat and drink extravagantly; to binge
大吃大喝	dàchīdàhē	to eat and drink as much as one likes; to make a pig of oneself

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

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Keep going

HSK 1, in list order: