HSK 6 · Money

挥霍 huīhuò “to squander” in Chinese

Traditional 揮霍

What 挥霍 means

  1. to squander
  2. to spend extravagantly
  3. to squander money
  4. extravagant
  5. prodigal

How to say 挥霍

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale挥huī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale霍huò4th tone, falling

挥霍 in a sentence

  1. 他把父母给的钱都挥霍掉了。

    Tā bǎ fùmǔ gěi de qián dōu huīhuò diào le.

    He squandered all the money his parents gave him.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 时间不能随便挥霍。

    Shíjiān bùnéng suíbiàn huīhuò.

    Time shouldn’t be wasted.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 挥霍 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 挥 (huī) with each of its parts in a different colour
挥huīto wave
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒu
  • 军army · jūn
The character 霍 (huò) with each of its parts in a different colour
霍huòsuddenly
  • 雨rain · yǔ
  • 隹short-tailed bird · zhuī

How to write 挥霍

挥 9 strokes · 霍 16 strokes

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

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

Words related to 挥霍

Words with 挥

挥huī · to wave发挥fāhuī · to bring into play指挥zhǐhuī · to conduct

More words: Money & Economy

股份gǔfèn · share耗费hàofèi · to consume合算hésuàn · worthwhile回报huíbào · to repay货币huòbì · currency加工jiāgōng · to process缴纳jiǎonà · to pay (taxes or fees)交易jiāoyì · transaction

FAQs

挥霍 (huīhuò) means “to squander” or “to spend extravagantly”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it huīhuò: huī with a 1st tone, then huò with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 挥霍 is written 揮霍. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type huihuo with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 挥霍 from the suggestions. Typing huihuo into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
挥霍 is an HSK 6 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.