How to write 花 (huā, “flower”)

花 (huā), an HSK 2 character, means “flower”, “blossom” and “fancy pattern”. It is HSK 2 in the 2025 syllabus, up from level 1 in the 2021 standard. It is a character whose parts combine into its meaning. On its own it is an HSK 2 word; it also forms 开花 (“to bloom”), 花园 (“garden”) and 零花钱 (“pocket money”). Japanese reads it hana, “flower”, as a JLPT N4 kanji.

Pinyin: huā
Strokes: 7
HSK: 2
Radical: 艹 (“grass”)

Stroke by stroke

As a top-bottom character it splits into 艹 (“grass”, the radical), strokes 1–3; 化 (“to make into”), strokes 4–7, written the top first.

Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
Vertical ㇑top leftdownwards
Vertical ㇑topdown and right → downwards
Left-falling stroke ㇒leftdown and left
Vertical ㇑leftdownwards
Left-falling stroke ㇒rightdown and left
Vertical-curve-hook ㇟centerdown and right → upwards

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

Japanese and Chinese draw all 7 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.

Japanese · KanjiVG · 7 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 7 strokes

Where 花 comes from

A flower 艹 in bloom 化; 化 also provides the pronunciation

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

Pinyin	Meanings	Traditional	In words
huā first tone	flower; blossom; fancy pattern; florid; to spend (money, time)	—	开花花园零花钱鲜花

HSK 2025 syllabus: level 2
2021 standard: level 1
HSK 2.0: in a level 3 word
Words with it: 529 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 花

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
花	huā	flower; blossom HSK 2
开花開花	kāihuā	to bloom; to blossom HSK 3
花园花園	huāyuán	garden (for flowers, ornamental plants etc); (landscaped) park HSK 3
零花钱零花錢	línghuāqián	pocket money; allowance HSK 4
鲜花鮮花	xiānhuā	flower; fresh flowers HSK 4
花费花費	huāfèi	expense; cost HSK 5
花生	huāshēng	peanut HSK 6
花朵	huāduǒ	flower HSK 6
兰花蘭花	lánhuā	cymbidium; orchid HSK 6
梅花	méihuā	plum blossom; clubs ♣ (a suit in card games) HSK 6

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

Print at 100%. Several characters: worksheet maker.

Keep going

HSK 2, in list order: