吼

• Pinyin: hǒu
• Hanzi breakdown: 口 (mouth radical) + 孔 (phonetic, meaning hole/opening) — a cry from a wide-open mouth

Meaning

To roar; to bellow; to shout loudly. A loud, fierce cry — from a person or an animal.

Describes a deep, powerful, and often frightening loud cry. Used for animals (lions roaring), people shouting in anger or excitement, and natural forces (wind howling). In northern dialect colloquial use, 吼 can also mean to call out to someone informally. The word often carries a sense of raw power and urgency.

Examples

1. 狮子突然一声低沉的吼叫划破了草原的宁静，周围的动物们立刻四散逃窜。 A lion suddenly let out a deep roar that shattered the grassland’s stillness, and the animals nearby immediately scattered and fled.
2. 教练忍无可忍，站在场边大声吼道，让队员们打起精神，不要再散漫下去了。 The coach finally lost his patience and shouted from the sidelines, telling the players to get it together and stop slacking off.
3. 山谷中狂风大作，呼啸声犹如无数野兽在齐声吼叫，令人不寒而栗。 The wind howled through the valley like countless wild beasts roaring in unison, sending a chill down your spine.

Usage Guide

Context: animals, anger, sports, nature, colloquial

Tone: forceful

Do Say

• 裁判宣布比赛结果的瞬间，主场球迷们爆发出震天动地的欢呼和吼叫，整个体育场都在颤抖。(The moment the referee announced the result, the home fans erupted in a deafening roar of cheering and shouting that made the entire stadium tremble.)
• 她忍了很久，终于忍无可忍地对着电话大吼一声，把积压已久的委屈和愤怒一股脑儿发泄了出来。(After holding it in for a long time, she finally reached her limit and bellowed into the phone, venting all the pent-up grievance and anger she had bottled up.)

Don't Say

• 吼 in formal written contexts to describe human speech — use 大声呼喊 or 厉声说道 in formal narration; 吼 is colloquial and carries a strong emotional, raw quality inappropriate for formal registers

Origin & History

Pictophonetic character: 口 (mouth radical) + 孔 (phonetic) — a cry from the mouth; the character itself suggests a loud, open-mouthed roar

Cultural Context

Era: Traditional to Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal