回

Tap the pinyin to hear it

to go back; to return; to turn back; to turn around; to reply; to answer; classifier for literary divisions (acts of a play, sections or chapters of a classic book); classifier for occurrences or times

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HSK 3.0: Level 1
Old HSK: Level 1
Strokes: 6
Radical: 囗 +3
Structure: Enclosure 包围
Traditional: 回
Common rank: #188
Unicode: U+56DE

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

How 回 is formed

Ideographic compound (会意字)

Originally, a spiral signifying return

Components 囗口

How to remember it

return · Heisig RSH #554

pent in + 口 mouth

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

Words with 回

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
回家	huí jiā	to return home
回来	huí lai	to return; to come back
回到	huí dào	to return to
回去	huí qu	to return; to go back
回答	huí dá	to reply; to answer; reply; answer
头一回	tóu yī huí	the first time; for the first time
回天无力	huí tiān wú lì	see 無力回天\|无力回天[wu2 li4 hui2 tian1]
无力回天	wú lì huí tiān	(idiom) powerless to save the situation; unable to avert disaster
海马回	hǎi mǎ huí	(Tw) (anatomy) hippocampus
一回事	yī huí shì	one and the same (thing); one thing (as distinct from another)
回南天	huí nán tiān	weather phenomenon characterized by condensation of warm moist air on cool surfaces during…
回国	huí guó	to return to one's home country
回头	huí tóu	to turn round; to turn one's head; later; by and by
头回	tóu huí	for the first time; on the previous occasion; last time (something occurred)
不当一回事	bù dàng yī huí shì	not regard as a matter (of any importance)
回民区	Huí mín Qū	Huimin, a district of Hohhot City 呼和浩特市[Hu1 he2 hao4 te4 Shi4], Inner Mongolia
回老家	huí lǎo jiā	to go back to one's roots; to return to one's native place; by ext. to join one's ancestor…
回天	huí tiān	to reverse a desperate situation
回头路	huí tóu lù	the road back to where one came from
大通回族土族自治县	Dà tōng Huí zú Tǔ zú Zì zhì xiàn	Datong Hui and Tu Autonomous County, in Xining City 西寧市\|西宁市[Xi1 ning2 Shi4], Qinghai

Sound family

These characters use 回 as their sound component — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
回 sound part	huí	to return, to turn around; a time
茴	huí	fennel, aniseed
蛔	huí	tapeworm