穴

Tap the pinyin to hear it

cave; cavity; hole; acupuncture point; Taiwan pr. [xue4]

Make a writing worksheet

HSK 3.0: Level 7–9
Old HSK: Level 6
Strokes: 5
Radical: 穴 itself
Structure: Top–bottom 上下
Traditional: 穴
Common rank: #1,468
Unicode: U+7A74

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

How 穴 is formed

Pictograph (象形字)

The mouth of a cave

Components 宀八

How to remember it

hole · Heisig RSH #1070

house + 八 eight + animal legs

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

Words with 穴

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

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
空穴来风	kōng xué lái fēng	lit. wind from an empty cave (idiom); fig. unfounded (story); baseless (claim)
空穴来风未必无因	kòng xué lái fēng wèi bì wú yīn	wind does not come from an empty cave without reason; there's no smoke without fire (idiom…
百会穴	bǎi huì xué	(TCM) acupuncture point GV-20, located at the top of the head
武穴市	Wǔ xué Shì	Wuxue, a county-level city in Huanggang City 黃岡市\|黄冈市[Huang2 gang1 Shi4], Hubei
八会穴	bā huì xué	the eight influential points (acupuncture)
不入虎穴，焉得虎子	bù rù hǔ xué , yān dé hǔ zǐ	How do you catch the tiger cub without entering the tiger's lair? (idiom); Nothing venture…
八风穴	bā fēng xué	"eight wind points", name of a set of acupuncture points (EX-LE-10), four on each foot
太阳穴	tài yáng xué	temple (on the sides of human head)
穴居人	xué jū rén	cave man
会阴穴	huì yīn xué	(TCM) acupuncture point CV-1, located on the perineum
阿是穴	ā shì xué	(TCM) ashi point: a tender spot that is not a standard acupuncture point
穴头	xué tou	(show business) promoter
地穴	dì xué	pit; burrow; crypt
穴道	xué dào	acupuncture point; acupoint
风穴	fēng xué	wind cave
空穴	kòng xué	electron hole (physics)
点穴	diǎn xué	to hit a pressure point (martial arts); dim mak; see also 點脈\|点脉[dian3 mai4]
经穴	jīng xué	acupuncture point (any point on any meridian); category of 12 specific acupuncture points …
印堂穴	yìn táng xué	yintang, acupuncture point at the midpoint between the medial ends of the eyebrows
死穴	sǐ xué	lethal point (acupuncture); vulnerable spot; Achilles' heel

Sound family

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

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
穴 sound part	xué	cave, den, hole
穿	chuān	to drill, to pierce; to dress, to wear