How to Write 喉 (hóu) — Meaning “throat / larynx”

Imagine you have a mouth (口) and you say 'ho' with a deep sound from your throat — the right side 侯 looks like a person saying 'ho.' Another trick is to think of a 'hoarse' throat, which starts with 'ho' like 侯.

The left radical 口 is small and sits high, while the right part 侯 has a long vertical stroke in the middle that should not be forgotten. A common mistake is to write the right side too wide or to miss the small stroke inside the top part of 侯.

喉 has a mouth radical (口) on the left and means 'throat,' while 哥 is made of two 可 stacked and means 'elder brother.' They look different: 喉 uses 口 + 侯, but 哥 has no mouth radical and is symmetrical. Their pronunciations and meanings are completely unrelated.

喉 appears in common words like 喉咙 (throat) and 咽喉 (throat or key point). In medicine, you say 喉咙痛 (sore throat). Culturally, 咽喉 can also mean a strategic location, like a 'throat' of a pass, showing its importance as a narrow passage.

Common words containing 喉 include: 喉咙 (hóu lóng) — throat; 喉咙痛 (hóu lóng tòng) — sore throat; 咽喉 (yān hóu) — throat.