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

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

Etymologically derived, 咳 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).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

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

Etymology & Origin

咳

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿰口亥 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 咳

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
咳嗽verbké souto cough4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
止咳verbzhǐ kéto suppress coughing
百日咳nounbǎi rì kéwhooping cough
干咳verbgān kéto 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...
咳血verbké xiěto cough up blood
镇咳zhèn kécough suppressant
止咳糖浆nounzhǐ ké táng jiāngcough suppressant syrup
咳呛ké qiàng(dialect) to cough
咳痰verbké tánto cough up phlegm
10
Total compounds
40
As first character
50
As last character
10
As middle character

咳 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 咳 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

嗽sòu
0.9172,771 co-occurrences
痰tán
0.721419 co-occurrences
喘chuǎn
0.589218 co-occurrences
嚏tì
0.55834 co-occurrences
呛qiàng
0.48710 co-occurrences
咽yān
0.46564 co-occurrences
肺fèi
0.452185 co-occurrences
涕tì
0.44330 co-occurrences
唾tuò
0.43826 co-occurrences
喉hóu
0.43784 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

止咳糖浆zhǐké tángjiāngHSK 5+

cough syrup

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他咳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.

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

功效:银耳滋阴润燥、补充津液;雪梨清热润肺、止咳化痰;排骨温补益气。

gōng xiào : yín ěr zī yīn rùn zào , bǔ chōng jīn yè ; xuě lí qīng rè rùn fèi , zhǐ hāi huà tán ; pái gǔ wēn bǔ yì qì .

Benefits: Silver ear mushrooms nourish yin, relieve dryness, and replenish body fluids; snow pears clear heat, moisten the lungs, relieve coughs, and help expel phlegm; pork ribs provide warm, tonifying nourishment and boost qi.

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

经常咽部干、肺燥咳嗽、爱清嗓子的人,更适合熟桃。

jīng cháng yān bù gān , fèi zào hāi sòu , ài qīng sǎng zǐ de rén , gēng shì gě shú táo .

Cooked peaches are particularly suitable for people who often experience a dry throat, have a dry cough, or frequently clear their throats.

Nownews今日新聞Mar 2026

张淳淳曾罹“非结核分枝杆菌”是什么?医:咳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?控制慢性咳嗽减少腹压吗

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:专长止咳化痰

. . . . . 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

爱和咳嗽是无法隐藏的。

ài hé késou shì wúfǎ yǐncáng de.

Love and cough cannot be hidden.

Tatoeba

咳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

咳嗽什么帮好起来?

Késou shénme bāng hǎoqǐlai?

What helps cure a cough?

Tatoeba

咳嗽的时候会痛吗?

Késou de shíhou huì tòng ma?

Does it hurt when you cough?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 口 (mouth) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced ké

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 咳 (ké) mean in Chinese?
咳 (ké) primarily means "cough." 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 (ké) 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 (ké)?
Several characters share the pronunciation ké: 刻 (quarter (hour)), 可 (can, may), 克 (to be able to). 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 咳 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.