喉咙

• Pinyin: hóu lóng
• Hanzi breakdown: 喉 = 口 (mouth radical) + 侯 (phonetic) — throat opening; 咙 = 口 + 龙 (phonetic dragon) — resonating chamber

Meaning

Throat; the larynx and pharynx region. The passage inside the neck used for breathing, swallowing, and speaking.

Refers to the throat in everyday and medical discourse. Common in expressions about vocal strain (喉咙嘶哑), sore throat (喉咙痛), or speaking (清清喉咙 — clear one's throat). A colloquial and accessible term, less clinical than 咽喉 or 食道.

Examples

1. 演讲结束后，她感到喉咙十分干涩，立刻喝了几大口水才稍微缓解了不适。 After her speech, her throat felt extremely dry, and she quickly drank several big gulps of water to ease the discomfort.
2. 冬季气候干燥，不少人容易出现喉咙红肿疼痛的症状，需要及时补充水分并注意保暖。 Winter air is dry, and many people easily develop a red, swollen, sore throat, so they need to drink water promptly and keep warm.
3. 他连续发表了两个小时的演讲，到最后喉咙已经沙哑，却仍然坚持把最后的结论部分完整表达出来。 He delivered two hours of back-to-back remarks; by the end his voice was hoarse, yet he still insisted on finishing the concluding section in full.

Usage Guide

Context: health, medical, speech, everyday

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 感冒初期出现喉咙痒痛时，应尽早多喝温水，避免用嗓过度，以防病情进一步加重。(At the first sign of a scratchy or sore throat during the early stages of a cold, one should drink plenty of warm water as soon as possible and avoid straining the voice to prevent the condition from worsening.)
• 歌手在演出前精心保护喉咙，不吃冷食、不大声说话，以确保登台时能够发挥出最佳状态。(The singer took meticulous care of her throat before the performance — no cold food, no loud talking — to ensure she could perform at her best when she took the stage.)

Don't Say

• 喉咙 in highly clinical contexts — use 咽喉 or 喉部 in formal medical writing; 喉咙 is the everyday colloquial term

Origin & History

喉 (larynx; throat) + 咙 (phonetic complement) — together forming the word for throat

Cultural Context

Era: Traditional to Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal