(kǎi): to sigh (with emotion), indignant, generous

(kǎi) is a Chinese character meaning “to sigh (with emotion).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2157 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, heart. Its radical form (heart) appears in many related characters such as (máng, busy), (kuài, fast, happy), (zěn, how).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to sigh (with emotion)
  2. indignant
  3. generous

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticheart

Decomposition: ⿰忄既 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
kāng kǎivehement
fèn kǎito resent
kāng kǎi jiě nángto contribute generously (idiom)
gǎn kǎito sigh with sorrow, regret etc
kāng kǎi jī ángimpassioned
kǎi tànto sigh with regret
kāng kǎi shū jiāngto donate generously (idiom)
kāng kǎi juān shēngsacrificing one's life generously (idiom)
kāng kǎi fù yìheroically sacrificing one's life (idiom)
9
Total compounds
11
As first character
33
As last character
56
As middle character

appears in 9 compound words: 11 as the first character, 33 as the last, and 56 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.

kāng
0.90415,132 co-occurrences
fèn
0.6282,520 co-occurrences
tàn
0.500450 co-occurrences
gǎn
0.4967,052 co-occurrences
juān
0.4861,638 co-occurrences
náng
0.454624 co-occurrences
áng
0.4371,038 co-occurrences
0.425108 co-occurrences
0.4141,254 co-occurrences
bēi
0.400468 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

kāng kǎi fù yìHSK 7+

heroically sacrificing one's life (idiom); to sacrifice oneself fervently to the cause

phrase
kāngkǎijī'ángHSK 7+

impassioned; vehement

phrase
kāngkǎijiěnángHSK 7+

to make generous donations; to contribute funds generously; to help someone generously with money

phrase
kāng kǎi juān shēngHSK 7+

sacrificing one's life generously (idiom); to sacrifice oneself fervently to the cause

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

虽然失败了,但他不气馁,继续努力。

suī rán shī bài le , dàn tā kǎi bù qì něi , jì xù nǔ lì .

Though he failed, he did not lose heart and continued to strive.

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

...昭彰人口贩子“梅姨”落网!被拐儿童家长感

. . . 昭 zhāng rén kǒu fàn zǐ méi yí luò wǎng ! bèi guǎi ér tóng jiā cháng gǎn kǎi

...Notorious human trafficker "Aunt Mei" has been apprehended! Parents of abducted children express their relief

Swi SwissinfoFeb 2026

特朗普关税受挫、百岁银行家的感,以及“定制婴儿”

tè lǎng pǔ guān shuì shòu cuò , bǎi suì yín háng jiā de gǎn kǎi , yǐ jí dìng zhì yīng ér

Trump's tariff setbacks, the lament of centenarian bankers, and "customized babies"

Hk01.comFeb 2026

游飚逝世|昏迷送院黄文标一直陪伴 叹其女儿细..唔知点帮到佢

yóu 飚 shì shì hūn mí sòng yuàn huáng wén biāo yī zhí péi bàn kǎi tàn qí nǚ ér xì . . 唔 zhī diǎn bāng dào 佢

You Biao passed away|Huang Wenbiao was sent to the hospital in a coma and lamented that his daughter was small: I don't know how to help him

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

...热闹散去43人团圆剩祖母身影 中国女子感:热闹过后难免孤寂

. . . rè nào sàn qù 4 3 rén tuán yuán shèng zǔ mǔ shēn yǐng zhōng guó nǚ zǐ gǎn kǎi : rè nào guò hòu nán miǎn gū jì

... The excitement dispersed, and 43 people reunited with their grandmother, and the Chinese woman sighed: Loneliness is inevitable after the excitement

Tatoeba

我很钦佩他的慷大方。

Wǒ hěn qīnpèi tā de kāngkǎi dàfāng.

I had great admiration for his generosity.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced kǎi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 慨 (kǎi) mean in Chinese?
慨 (kǎi) primarily means "to sigh (with emotion)." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2157 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 慨 and 概?
慨 (kǎi) and 概 (gài) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 忄 vs 木 (same 既 component).
How many strokes does 慨 have?
慨 is written with 12 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 慨?
The radical associated with 慨 is 忄 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 慨?
慨 is composed of: 忄 (semantic), 既 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰忄既 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 慨?
Common words with 慨 include: 慷慨 (kāng kǎi, "vehement"); 愤慨 (fèn kǎi, "to resent"); 慷慨解囊 (kāng kǎi jiě náng, "to contribute generously (idiom)"); 感慨 (gǎn kǎi, "to sigh with sorrow, regret etc"); 慷慨激昂 (kāng kǎi jī áng, "impassioned"). There are over 9 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 慨 (kǎi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation kǎi: 开 (to open (transitive or intransitive)), 凯 ((bound form) triumphal music). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 慨 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 慨 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.