How to Write 话 (huà) — Meaning “word; speech; talk”

Imagine a tongue (舌) sticking out to say something, and the speech radical 讠 reminds you it's about words. So you can think: "A tongue speaks words – that's 话." This visual helps connect the shape to the meaning of talking.

When writing 话, first write the radical 讠 as two strokes (a dot and a slanting line), then write the right side 舌. Be careful to keep the left side narrow and the right side slightly wider. A common mistake is making the radical too big or forgetting the dot at the top of 讠.

话 means "word" or "speech" and is often a noun (like in 电话 for telephone) or a verb (to talk). 讲 (jiǎng) specifically means "to speak about" or "to explain," like in 讲话 (give a speech). 讳 (huì) means "to avoid" or "taboo" and is used in formal contexts, like 忌讳 (taboo). Visually, 讲 has a different right side (井), and 讳 has a different right side (韦).

话 is very common in daily life, appearing in words like 说话 (to talk), 电话 (telephone), and 笑话 (joke). It can be a noun meaning "words" or a verb meaning "to say" (in informal compounds). Culturally, 话 is used in phrases like 中国话 (Chinese language) to refer to spoken dialect.

Common words containing 话 include: 说话 (shuō huà) — to talk; 电话 (diàn huà) — Telephone; 笑话 (xiào huà) — Joke.