河 — river; the Yellow River

river; the Yellow River; the Milky Way

Pinyin: hé
Strokes: 8
HSK level: HSK 3
Handwriting: required

How to write 河: 8 strokes

Each cell adds one stroke to the previous ones, with the new stroke in red. Stroke order is not decoration: it sets the proportions of the character and makes handwriting legible to a reader. This character is on the HSK handwriting list, so the exam expects you to write it, not only recognise it.

河 — 8 strokes, in writing order from left to right.

Build a printable practice sheet with 河

Words with 河 in the HSK syllabus: 4

Every word in the official 2026 syllabus that contains this character, with the level it is introduced at. Learning a character pays off through these: each one combines with the characters you already know.

河hériver; the Yellow River; the Milky WayHSK 3
河流héliúriverHSK 5
河畔hépànriverside; river plainHSK 7–9
运河yùnhécanalHSK 7–9

Glosses come from CC-CEDICT, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, and are the dictionary’s first sense rather than a translation chosen for context.