How to Write 郝 (hǎo) — Meaning “Hao (a surname)”

Imagine a person named 'Hao' who is so embarrassed that their face turns bright red (赤), and they run away to a small town (阝 on the right). The visual of a red face heading to a town helps link the components to the surname 郝.

The left side 赤 has a specific order: first write 土, then the two small strokes 丷 (dot and left-falling), but note that the bottom of 赤 is 小 without the middle hook. The right side 阝 (ear radical) is written with two strokes: a curved horizontal and a long vertical. Keep 赤 slightly narrower than 阝 to maintain balance.

郝 uses 赤 on the left and 阝 on the right, while 邮 has 由 on the left and 阝 on the right, and 邯 has 甘 on the left and 阝 on the right. 郝 is only a surname, whereas 邮 means 'post/mail' and 邯 is part of the city name 邯郸 (Handan). Visually, focus on the left component: 赤 vs 由 vs 甘.

郝 is exclusively used as a Chinese surname, like in 郝医生 (Dr. Hao) or 郝同学 (Student Hao). It is not part of common vocabulary words, so you will only encounter it in names. Culturally, surnames are very important in China, and 郝 is a relatively common but not top-ranking surname.

Common words containing 郝 include: 郝医生 (hǎo yī shēng) — Dr. Hao; 郝同学 (hǎo tóng xué) — Student Hao; 姓郝 (xìng hǎo) — Surname Hao.