害 (hài): to do harm to, to cause trouble to, harm

害 (hài) is a Chinese character meaning “to do harm to.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 宀 (structural), 丰 (structural) and 口 (structural). It ranks #579 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to do harm to
  2. to cause trouble to
  3. harm

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Practice writing 害 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 害

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
害怕verbhài pàto be afraid3
伤害verbshāng hàito injure5
厉害adjectivelì haiintense4
害羞adjectivehài xiūshy4
危害verbwēi hàito harm5
损害verbsǔn hàiharm5
有害adjectiveyǒu hàidestructive5
灾害nounzāi hàicalamity6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
受害者nounshòu hài zhěcasualty
杀害verbshā hàito murder
受害人nounshòu hài rénvictim
陷害verbxiàn hàito entrap
被害人nounbèi hài rénvictim
遇害verbyù hàito be murdered
要害nounyào hàivital part
无害adjectivewú hàiharmless
迫害verbpò hàito persecute
被害者nounbèi hài zhěvictim (of a wounding or murder)
毒害verbdú hàito harm (sb's health) with narcotics etc
受害verbshòu hàito suffer damage, injury etc
害人verbhài rénto harm sb
害虫nounhài chónginjurious insect
侵害verbqīn hàito encroach on
100
Total compounds
22
As first character
53
As last character
25
As middle character

害 appears in 100 compound words: 22 as the first character, 53 as the last, and 25 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 害 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

怕pà
0.62820,677 co-occurrences
杀shā
0.58422,814 co-occurrences
灾zāi
0.5749,462 co-occurrences
迫pò
0.57218,772 co-occurrences
损sǔn
0.5449,560 co-occurrences
受shòu
0.53648,460 co-occurrences
危wēi
0.53016,799 co-occurrences
陷xiàn
0.52811,146 co-occurrences
羞xiū
0.5274,424 co-occurrences
妨fáng
0.5113,157 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (18)

病民害国bìng mín hài guóHSK 4+

to damage the people and harm the country (idiom)

phrase
不知利害bù zhī lì hàiHSK 4+

see 不知好歹

phrase
残民害物cán mín hài wùHSK 6+

to harm people and damage property (idiom)

phrase
妒能害贤dù néng hài xiánHSK 7+

jealous of the able, envious of the clever (idiom)

phrase
妨功害能fáng gōng hài néngHSK 6+

to constrain and limit successful, capable people

phrase
害群之马hàiqúnzhīmǎHSK 5+

bad apple, black sheep

noun
害人不浅hàirénbùqiǎnHSK 5+

to cause great harm to people

phrase
利害关系lì hài guān xiHSK 4+

stake; vital interest; concern

phrase
谋财害命móucáihàimìngHSK 7+

to murder for money; to kill someone for his or her property

phrase
趋利避害qūlìbìhàiHSK 5+

to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages

phrase
丧天害理sàng tiān hài lǐHSK 6+

devoid of conscience (idiom)

phrase
伤天害理shāngtiānhàilǐHSK 4+

atrocious; outrageous; inhuman

phrase

Showing 12 of 18 idioms containing 害.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

害字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。

hài zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .

The character "害" has different usages in different contexts.

99 健康网Feb 2026

孕期喝了酒对宝宝有没有影响?红酒比白酒危害小吗

yùn qī hē le jiǔ duì bǎo bǎo yǒu méi yǒu yǐng xiǎng ? hóng jiǔ bǐ bái jiǔ wēi hài xiǎo ma

Does drinking alcohol during pregnancy affect the baby? Is red wine less harmful than white wine?

99 健康网Feb 2026

...酒对宝宝有没有影响?心理焦虑会加重实际伤害吗

. . . jiǔ duì bǎo bǎo yǒu méi yǒu yǐng xiǎng ? xīn lǐ jiāo lǜ huì jiā chóng shí jì shāng hài ma

... Does wine affect the baby? Does psychological anxiety aggravate actual harm?

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

吃很少却瘦不下来?营养师揭真相:恐害体重暴走

chī hěn shǎo què shòu bù xià lái ? yíng yǎng shī jiē zhēn xiāng : kǒng hài tǐ chóng bào zǒu

Eat very little but can't lose weight? Nutritionist reveals the truth: fear of weight loss

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

眼镜店老板:钦佩神韵揭露迫害的勇气和智慧

yǎn jìng diàn lǎo bǎn : qīn pèi shén yùn jiē lù pò hài de yǒng qì hé zhì huì

Optical shop owner: Admire Shen Yun's courage and wisdom in exposing persecution

百度新闻Feb 2026

马到平安|拒绝 “人从众” 伤害,春节防踩踏 指南..

mǎ dào píng ān jù jué rén cóng zhòng shāng hài , chūn jié fáng cǎi tà zhǐ nán . .

Horse to Safety|Refuse the harm of "people following the crowd", Spring Festival anti-stampede guide:

Tatoeba

你害怕被炒鱿鱼吗?

Nǐ hàipà bèi chǎo yóuyú ma?

Are you afraid of being fired?

Tatoeba

她不会乘飞机因为害怕坠机。

Tā bùhuì chéng fēijī yīnwèi hàipà zhuìjī.

She won't take an airplane for fear of a crash.

Tatoeba

我听说他打麻将很厉害。

Wǒ tīngshuō tā dǎ májiàng hěn lìhai.

I hear he is good at mahjong.

Tatoeba

我们必须始终为灾害做好准备。

Wǒmen bìxū shǐzhōng wèi zāihài zuò hǎo zhǔnbèi.

We must always be prepared for disasters.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced hài

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 害 (hài) mean in Chinese?
害 (hài) primarily means "to do harm to." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #579 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 害 have?
害 is written with 10 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 害?
The radical associated with 害 is 宀 (roof). This radical appears in many characters related to roof.
What are the components of 害?
害 is composed of: 宀 (structural), 丰 (structural), 口 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱宀⿱丰口 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 害?
Common words with 害 include: 害怕 (hài pà, "to be afraid"); 伤害 (shāng hài, "to injure"); 厉害 (lì hai, "intense"); 受害者 (shòu hài zhě, "casualty"); 杀害 (shā hài, "to murder"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 害 (hài)?
Several characters share the pronunciation hài: 还 (still, return), 海 (sea), 孩 ((bound form) child), 骇 (to frighten). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 害 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 害 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 害 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.