HSK 1 · Common Verbs

回 huí “to return” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 回 means

  1. to return
  2. to go back
  3. to turn back
  4. to turn around
  5. to reply
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to answer
  • classifier for literary divisions (acts of a play, sections or chapters of a classic book)
  • classifier for occurrences or times
  • Hui ethnic group (Chinese Muslims)

How to say 回

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale回huí2nd tone, rising

回 in a sentence

  1. 他去去就回。

    Tā qù qù jiù huí.

    He’ll be back soon.

    Sentence #12478438 from Tatoeba

  2. 我明天回日本。

    Wǒ míngtiān huí Rìběn.

    I’ll be going back to Japan tomorrow.

    Sentence #10270526 from Tatoeba

  3. 我准备回上海了。

    Wǒ zhǔnbèi huí Shànghǎi le.

    Now I’m preparing to go back to Shanghai.

    Sentence #9991994 from Tatoeba

How 回 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 回 (huí) with each of its parts in a different colour
回huíto go back; to return; to turn back
  • 囗enclosure · wéi
  • 口mouth · kǒu

Memory aidOne square inside another, like going round and coming back: to return.

How to write 回

回 6 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

回 (huí) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 回 (huí). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 回

Words with 回

回来huílai · to return回去huíqu · to return回答huídá · to reply回忆huíyì · to recall回顾huígù · to look back回避huíbì · to avoid挽回wǎnhuí · to retrieve回报huíbào · to repay回收huíshōu · to recycle

More words: Common Verbs

喜欢xǐhuan · to like想xiǎng · to want做zuò · to do工作gōngzuò · to work住zhù · to live打电话dǎ diànhuà · to make a phone call睡觉shuìjiào · to sleep买mǎi · to buy

FAQs

回 (huí) means “to return” or “to go back”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it huí: huí with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 回 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type hui with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 回 from the suggestions. Typing hui into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
回 is an HSK 1 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.