How to Write 嗥 (háo) — Meaning “To howl or roar.”

Picture a wolf standing on a high hill (皋) opening its mouth (口) to howl at the moon. The top part of 皋 looks like a pair of ears or a wolf's head, and the bottom resembles its tail, making the whole character a little wolf howling.

The left radical 口 is small and sits high, while the right part 皋 is wider and taller. A common mistake is writing the right side too narrow or forgetting the short horizontal stroke inside 皋; make sure the left mouth is not too big.

嗥 specifically means a loud, prolonged howl of a wolf or beast. 㕡 is an ancient character meaning hollow or gully, and 唪 is used for chanting or reciting in a low voice. Their radicals differ: 嗥 and 唪 both use 口, but 㕡 uses 谷 (valley).

嗥 is mainly used in literary or descriptive contexts to describe the howling of wolves, as in 狼嗥 (wolf howl). It can also be used metaphorically for a person shouting wildly, like 狂嗥 (howl wildly). It is not common in everyday speech but appears in stories, news about animals, or poetic language.

Common words containing 嗥 include: 狼嗥 (láng háo) — wolf howl; 嗥叫 (háo jiào) — To howl.; 狂嗥 (kuáng háo) — To howl wildly..