嘿 (hēi): hey
嘿 (hēi) is a Chinese character meaning “hey.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 黑 (phonetic). It ranks #2345 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 嘿 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).
Definitions
- hey
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 嘿 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 嘿嘿interjection | hēi hēi | (onom.) he he |
| 阿嘿颜noun | ā hēi yán | variant of 阿黑顏|阿黑颜 |
| 嘿咻interjection | hēi xiū | (coll.) to make love |
嘿 appears in 3 compound words: 67 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 33 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 嘿 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
嘿，好久不见，你最近过得怎么样？
Hēi, hǎojiǔ bù jiàn, nǐ zuìjìn guò de zěnme yàng?
Hey, long time no see, how have you been recently?
现在，哪怕是垃圾电话、推销电话、陌生来电，我接起来时都会想：嘿，又磨耳朵了。
xiàn zài , nǎ pà shì lā jī diàn huà , tuī xiāo diàn huà , mò shēng lái diàn , wǒ jiē qǐ lái shí dōu huì xiǎng : hēi , yòu mó ěr duǒ le .
Now, even when I answer spam calls, sales calls, or calls from unknown numbers, I find myself thinking, “Oh, here comes another ear-sore.”
嘿，我朋友说他的网速提高了，情况是这样的。
hēi , wǒ péng yǒu shuō tā de wǎng sù tí gāo le , qíng kuàng shì zhè yàng de .
Hey, my friend said his internet speed has improved. Here's what happened.
嘿，汤姆，我们可以买两箱生菜吗？
Hēi, Tāngmǔ, wǒmen kěyǐ mǎi liǎng xiāng shēngcài ma?
Hey, Tom, can we get two bins of lettuce?
嘿-嘿... 那个地方的背后有一个故事。
Hēi - hēi... nàge dìfang de bèihòu yǒu yī gè gùshi.
He-heh... there's a tale behind that, for that place.
嘿，你！你在干什么？
Hēi, nǐ! nǐ zài gànshénme?
Hey, you! What are you doing?
嘿，你的狗刚咬了我。
Hēi, nǐ de gǒu gāng yǎo le wǒ.
Hey, your dog just bit me.
嘿，玛丽，妳总是绑马尾。为什么不偶尔试试双马尾呢？
Hēi, Mǎlì, nǐ zǒngshì bǎng mǎwěi. wèishénme bù ǒu'ěr shì shì shuāng mǎwěi ne?
Hey Mary, you always wear a ponytail. Why not try pigtails every now and then?
嘿，你！请稍候。
Hēi, nǐ! qǐng shāo hòu.
Hey you! Please wait.
Character Family
Homophones — Characters pronounced hēi
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 嘿 (hēi) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 嘿 have?
What is the radical of 嘿?
What are the components of 嘿?
What are common words containing 嘿?
What characters sound the same as 嘿 (hēi)?
Is 嘿 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 嘿 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.