号
Meaning
- (literary) to call out; to command
- (bound form) bugle; trumpet
- (bound form) signal; bugle call (e.g. 起床号)
Example sentence
今天几号？
What's today's date?
The character 号
号 is a number in a series rather than a quantity: 几号 asks the date, 号码 is the number itself, 电话号码 the telephone one. It is also a signal or a horn, which is where 信号 and 符号 come from.