What does 很 mean in Chinese?

很 (hěn) means "very" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 1.

How do you write 很?

很 is written with 9 strokes, starting from the 彳 (step) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 很?

The radical of 很 is 彳 (step, Kangxi radical #60). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 得, 彳.

How many strokes does 很 have?

The Chinese character 很 has 9 strokes.

What HSK level is 很?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 很 is a character to recognise at HSK 1 and to write by hand at HSK 2 (the handwriting list HSK 1 and 2 share).

很 (hěn): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

很

hěn

very

HSK 1 character 9 strokes Radical: 彳 (step)

Quick Answer

很 (hěn) means "very" with 9 strokes, radical 彳 (step), HSK 1 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 很 →Animated stroke-order for 很 →

Pronunciation

hěn

Meaning

Primary: very

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

很 has no oracle bone form. It is a phono-semantic compound combining 彳 (the left-step radical, depicting a crossroads or a step taken with the left foot, used in characters related to walking or going) with 艮 as the phonetic element. The character was originally used for a concrete action, not the modern degree adverb.

Form evolution

The earliest attested forms are in seal script, showing 彳 on the left and 艮 on the right. Clerical script squared and straightened both components, and the modern 楷书 form preserves that layout unchanged. The graph has not been further simplified.

How the meaning evolved

The original meaning of 很 was 'to disobey' or 'to contend against', closely related to 狠 (cruel, ruthless), which shares the same phonetic 艮. Through the Tang and Song it weakened semantically, shifting to mean 'very' or 'extremely' as a degree adverb. In modern Mandarin the adverbial use has almost entirely replaced the older sense, which now survives only in classical readings.

Cultural note

Learners are often told that 很 means 'very', but in the construction 我很好 it is largely a grammatical filler connecting a subject to an adjectival predicate, carrying little of the intensifying force it has in 很大 or 很漂亮. This bleached 很 has no direct equivalent in English and trips up beginners who over-translate it.