The Chinese symbol for harmony — 和 (hé)
和 (hé) does mean harmony — things fitting together — but it is also the everyday word for 'and'. A modern reader meeting a lone 和 will very likely read it as the conjunction first, which is the single most useful thing to know about this character.
At a glance
- Character
- 和 full dictionary entry
- Pinyin
- hé
- Literal meaning
- Harmonious; and; with
- Dictionary senses
- And (with) From the same dictionary as our translator.
Stroke order
What 和 means
Where the character comes from
和 is written 禾 (standing grain) beside 口 (mouth). The earliest forms show a set of bamboo pipes instead, and the original sense is musical: several notes sounding together without clashing.
How it is actually used
我和你 is 'me and you'. 和平 is peace, 和谐 is harmonious, 温和 is mild or gentle, 和气 is amiable. The character also has other readings — hè for joining in a song, huó and huò in mixing and kneading.
What 和 does not mean
On its own it does not read as a lofty motto. It is one of the highest-frequency characters in the language precisely because it is a function word, and function words do not carry weight when isolated.
Claims you will meet elsewhere
"和 on a wall or a scroll says 'harmony'."
Without context it says 'and'. 和谐 or 和睦 is what unambiguously says harmony.
"和谐 is a safe, positive word."
In mainland Chinese internet usage 被和谐 — 'to be harmonised' — is a widely understood euphemism for being censored. The word carries that irony for a very large number of readers.
"和 means peace."
和平 means peace. 和 is the component, and it contributes the 'concord' half rather than the 'absence of war' half.
For the general version of this problem — why a machine translation of a single word so often reads as confident nonsense — see Why AI Translators Guess.
The character in different scripts
简体
繁體
和 is the same in simplified and traditional Chinese, eight strokes. It is also the character Japan uses for itself in 和食, 和服 and so on, so decorative uses of 和 abroad are as often Japanese in intent as Chinese.
The words 和 lives in
This is the part a symbol list leaves out, and it is the fastest way to feel what a character actually carries. Readings and meanings come from the same dictionary that powers the translator; tap any word for its full dictionary entry.
Other ways to say harmony
和 is one answer, not the answer. Which of these is right depends on what you mean by "harmony" — and that is usually the question worth settling before anything is written down permanently.
Harmonious — the actual word, with the caveat about its internet sense noted above.
Concord between people. 和睦 describes a household or a community that gets on.
Level, even, calm. 平和 is even-tempered; 心平气和 is the fixed phrase for keeping your composure.
和 — frequently asked questions
What is the Chinese symbol for harmony?
和 (hé) does mean harmony — things fitting together — but it is also the everyday word for 'and'. A modern reader meeting a lone 和 will very likely read it as the conjunction first, which is the single most useful thing to know about this character. It is written 和 and pronounced hé.
What does 和 not mean?
On its own it does not read as a lofty motto. It is one of the highest-frequency characters in the language precisely because it is a function word, and function words do not carry weight when isolated.
Is 和 commonly mistranslated?
Yes. The claim you will meet most often is: "和 on a wall or a scroll says 'harmony'." Without context it says 'and'. 和谐 or 和睦 is what unambiguously says harmony. This page lists 3 such claims about 和 with what is true instead.
Is 和 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
和 is the same in simplified and traditional Chinese, eight strokes. It is also the character Japan uses for itself in 和食, 和服 and so on, so decorative uses of 和 abroad are as often Japanese in intent as Chinese.
What else can I use for harmony in Chinese?
Depending on what you mean: 和谐, 睦, 平. This page explains when each one is the right choice, and 和 itself lives in words such as 和平, 和谐, 温和.
Concepts that get confused with this one
Keep going
Check any wording of your own in the Chinese to English translator before it goes anywhere permanent, look 和 up in full in the dictionary, learn the components it is built from in the Chinese Radicals guide, see it used in real sentences in the example sentence bank, or read Why AI Translators Guess for why single-word translation is the hardest kind.