Word.ws English Dictionary

hwatu

/ˈfwɑːtu/

hwatu noun: hanafuda playing cards, especially hard plastic cards in a Korean style.

hwatu: hanafuda playing cards, especially hard plastic cards in a Korean style
Image: Yyyanka, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

hwatu (usually uncountable, plural hwatu)

  1. (usually) Hanafuda playing cards, especially hard plastic cards in a Korean style.
    • One of the most visible Korean amusements, on the other hand, is hwatu, or playing cards.1979, Peter Hyun, editor, Introducing Korea: Historical Legacy, Acts of Creation, Way of Life, Food and Games, Discovering Korea, Jungwoo-sa, page 136
    • The most popular pastime game in Korea is called Hwatu. People play hwatu cards almost anywhere there is a gathering.2006, Ju Brown, John Brown, “Chapter Five: Points of Interest”, in China, Japan, Korea: Culture and Customs, BookSurge, →ISBN, page 171
  2. (usually) Any game played using those cards, most commonly go-stop.
    • Mother came and the four of us sat in a circle and played hwatu.2002, In-hun Ch'oe, translated by Shi Chung Park Moore, Stephen Moore, Reflections on a Mask, Homa & Sekey Books, →ISBN, “Christmas Carol”, chapter 1, page 134
    • In Korea we used to play Hwatu, which means, literally, “the battle of the flowers”, but there were also other games such as Koi-Koi and Go-Stop.2015, Anthony Horowitz, “ ‘Pick a Card...’ ” (chapter 10), in Trigger Mortis: A James Bond Novel, Orion, →ISBN

Examples of hwatu in a sentence

  • The deck or Hwatu, is divided into twelve suits with four cards per suit.2012, Matthew Waterhouse, “Everything but the kitchen sink”, in Konglish: The ultimate survival guide for teaching English in South Korea...
  • Halmoni loved to smoke, drink, and gamble, and especially loved partaking in all three around a deck of hwatu.2021, Michelle Zauner, “Double Lid” (chapter 3), in Crying in H Mart, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN, page 29:
  • We played billiards during the daytime, and at night, he suggested me to play Hwatu (Korean poker).2020, David Choi, “Thinking about stealing $20.”, in The Autobiography of a 25-year-old: From Prison to Seoul National University, David...
  • "Have you ever played hwatu?" she asks as she deals their cards.2024, Elaine U. Cho, Ocean's Godori, Zando, →ISBN:

Forms of hwatu

pluralhwatu

Origin of hwatu

Borrowed from Korean 화투 (hwatu), a Sino-Korean word from 花 (“flower”) + 鬪 (“fight”).

Words that rhyme with hwatu

Questions about hwatu

What does hwatu mean?
Hwatu means hanafuda playing cards, especially hard plastic cards in a Korean style.
How do you use hwatu in a sentence?
The deck or Hwatu, is divided into twelve suits with four cards per suit.
What part of speech is hwatu?
Hwatu is a noun.
How do you pronounce hwatu?
Hwatu is pronounced /ˈfwɑːtu/.
What is the plural of hwatu?
The plural of hwatu is hwatu.

Words near hwatu in the dictionary

  1. Hwangyüan
  2. hwans
  3. Hwarang
  4. Hwaseong
  5. hwat
  6. hwatu
  7. HWB
  8. HWBs
  9. HWE reaction
  10. HWE reactions
  11. HWH

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hwatu (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “hwatu.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hwatu. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.