(hāi): sound of sighing, (interjection expressing surprise, sorrow, regret, disappointment etc) oh, damn

(hāi) is a Chinese character meaning “sound of sighing.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2303 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, mouth. Its radical form (mouth) appears in many related characters such as (kǒu, mouth), (jiào, to call, to be called), (yòu, (bound form) right).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. sound of sighing
  2. (interjection expressing surprise, sorrow, regret, disappointment etc) oh
  3. damn

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿰口亥 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbké souto cough4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
zhǐ kéto suppress coughing
bǎi rì kéwhooping cough
gān kéto cough without phlegm
běi jīng ké"Beijing cough", respiratory problems caused by dry and polluted Beijing air, typically experienced by non-acclimated...
ké xiěto cough up blood
zhèn kécough suppressant
zhǐ ké táng jiāngcough suppressant syrup
ké qiàng(dialect) to cough
ké tánto cough up phlegm
10
Total compounds
40
As first character
50
As last character
10
As middle character

appears in 10 compound words: 40 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 10 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

sòu
0.9138,255 co-occurrences
tán
0.7081,230 co-occurrences
chuǎn
0.598654 co-occurrences
0.51390 co-occurrences
qiàng
0.49430 co-occurrences
yān
0.472192 co-occurrences
fèi
0.464546 co-occurrences
0.45090 co-occurrences
tuò
0.44478 co-occurrences
hóu
0.443252 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

zhǐké tángjiāngHSK 5+

cough syrup

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

干舌燥地讲了两个小时,终于说服了大家。

tā hāi gān jī zào dì jiǎng le liǎng gě xiǎo shí , zhōng yú shuō fú le dà jiā .

He talked for two hours, his throat dry from coughing, and finally won everyone over.

Nownews今日新聞Mar 2026

张淳淳曾罹“非结核分枝杆菌”是什么?医:嗽拖很久没好是警讯

zhāng chún chún céng 罹 fēi jié hé fēn zhī gān jūn shì shén má ? yī : hāi sòu tuō hěn jiǔ méi hǎo shì jǐng xùn

What is "non-tuberculous mycobacteria," which Zhang Chunchun once contracted? Doctor: A persistent cough that won't go away is a warning sign.

99 健康网Mar 2026

老年人子宫下垂的治疗方式有哪些?控制慢性嗽减少腹压吗

lǎo nián rén zǐ gōng xià chuí de zhì liáo fāng shì yǒu nǎ xiē ? kòng zhì màn xìng hāi sòu jiǎn shǎo fù yā ma

What are the treatment methods for uterine ptosis in the elderly? Does controlling chronic cough reduce abdominal pressure?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

.....韩国瑜:不要化骨绵掌 赖清德:专长止化痰

. . . . . hán guó 瑜 : bù yāo huà gǔ mián zhǎng lài qīng dé : zhuān cháng zhǐ hāi huà tán

..... Han Guoyu: Don't turn bones into cotton palms Lai Qingde: Specialize in relieving cough and phlegm

Tatoeba

爱和嗽是无法隐藏的。

ài hé késou shì wúfǎ yǐncáng de.

Love and cough cannot be hidden.

Tatoeba

嗽糖浆有股甘草的味道。

Késou tángjiāng yǒu gǔ gāncǎo de wèidao.

The cough syrup has a licorice flavoring.

Tatoeba

嗽什么帮好起来?

Késou shénme bāng hǎoqǐlai?

What helps cure a cough?

Tatoeba

嗽的时候会痛吗?

Késou de shíhou huì tòng ma?

Does it hurt when you cough?

Tatoeba

嗽,还有点发烧。

Wǒ késou, hái yǒu diǎn fāshāo.

I have a cough and a little fever.

Tatoeba

他得了肺炎,难怪他在不停的嗽。

Tā déle fèiyán, nánguài tā zài bù tíng de késou.

He's got pneumonia. No wonder he is coughing nonstop.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced hāi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 咳 (hāi) mean in Chinese?
咳 (hāi) primarily means "sound of sighing." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #2303 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 咳 and 该?
咳 (hāi) and 该 (gāi) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 口 vs 讠 (same 亥 component).
How many strokes does 咳 have?
咳 is written with 9 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 咳?
The radical associated with 咳 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 咳?
咳 is composed of: 口 (semantic), 亥 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰口亥 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 咳?
Common words with 咳 include: 咳嗽 (ké sou, "to cough"); 止咳 (zhǐ ké, "to suppress coughing"); 百日咳 (bǎi rì ké, "whooping cough"); 干咳 (gān ké, "to cough without phlegm"); 北京咳 (běi jīng ké, ""Beijing cough", respiratory problems caused by dry and polluted Beijing air, typically experienced by non-acclimated..."). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 咳 (hāi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation hāi: 孩 ((bound form) child), 骇 (to frighten), 还 (still, return), 海 (sea), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 咳 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 咳 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.