How to Write 葫 (hú) — Meaning “gourd”

Imagine a gourd (葫芦) hanging from a grass stem (艹), like a hairy "胡" (meaning "beard") dangling below. The top looks like grass, and the bottom looks like a bearded face. This helps you recall both the plant and the sound.

Write the top radical 艹 first with two horizontal strokes and a vertical. Then write 胡: start with the left part 古 (horizontal, vertical, horizontal, vertical, horizontal), then the right part 月 (a narrow moon). A common mistake is writing 胡's left part as 舌 instead of 古.

葫 (gourd) has the phonetic 胡, while 荷 (lotus) uses 何 (person + can) and 荸 (water chestnut) uses 孛. Visually, 葫's bottom is wider (胡), 荷 has a smaller 何, and 荸 has a flat top. Meaning-wise, 葫 is only for gourds, 荷 for lotus, and 荸 for water chestnut.

葫 almost always appears in the word 葫芦 (hú lú, gourd), as in 糖葫芦 (candied fruit on a stick) or 西葫芦 (zucchini). Culturally, the gourd is a lucky symbol in China, often used in myths like the Calabash Brothers, where magical gourds fight evil.

Common words containing 葫 include: 葫芦 (hú lú) — gourd / calabash; 糖葫芦 (táng hú lú) — Tanghulu (candied fruit on a stick); 西葫芦 (xī hú lú) — Zucchini.