(): to be fond of, to like, to enjoy

() is a Chinese character meaning “to be fond of.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #668 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, singing 口 and beating drums 壴. 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. to be fond of
  2. to like
  3. to enjoy

Etymology & Origin

ideographicSinging 口 and beating drums 壴

Decomposition: ⿱壴口 (layout: top-bottom)

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

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbxǐ huanto like1
verbgōng xǐto congratulate5
adjectivejīng xǐnice surprise5
nounxǐ jùa comedy6
verbxǐ àito like3
nounxǐ shìhappy occasion6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
xǐ yuèhappy
xǐ hàoto like
huān xǐhappy
dà xǐexultation
jiē dà huān xǐto everyone's delight and satisfaction
xīn xǐhappy
kě xǐmaking one happy
kuáng xǐecstasy
xǐ qìngjubilation
xǐ xùngood news
xǐ quèmagpie
tóng xǐThank you for your congratulations!
qiáo qiān zhī xǐcongratulations on house-moving or promotion (idiom)
xǐ tiěwedding invitation
yǒu xǐto be expecting
100
Total compounds
51
As first character
27
As last character
22
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 51 as the first character, 27 as the last, and 22 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.

huān
0.723110,275 co-occurrences
0.52258,734 co-occurrences
ài
0.49834,614 co-occurrences
chè
0.45018 co-occurrences
yuè
0.4444,429 co-occurrences
chī
0.43812,270 co-occurrences
jīng
0.4385,736 co-occurrences
yuān
0.4343,510 co-occurrences
gōng
0.4237,138 co-occurrences
0.42040,782 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (28)

bēixǐ-jiāojíHSK 6+

mixed feelings of grief and joy

phrase
dàxǐguòwàngHSK 2+

to be delighted that things are better than one expected; to be overjoyed

phrase
gōngxǐ fācáiHSK 6+

Happy New Year (congratulations and best wishes for a prosperous Chinese New Year)

phrase
hàodàxǐgōngHSK 4+

to crave greatness and success; to rejoice in grandiose deeds

phrase
hóngbái xǐshìHSK 2+

weddings and funerals

phrase
huān huān xǐ xǐHSK 1+

happily

phrase
huāntiānxǐdìHSK 2+

with boundless joy; overjoyed

phrase
huān xǐ yuān jiaHSK 7+

quarrelsome but loving couple

phrase
jiànlièxīnxǐHSK 7+

to see others doing what one used to love doing and therefore be eager to try doing it again

phrase
jiēdàhuānxǐHSK 7+

to everyone's delight and satisfaction; everyone is happy

phrase
kěxǐkěhèHSK 4+

joyful and worthy of congratulation

phrase
qiáoqiānzhīxǐHSK 7+

happy occasion of moving into a new house; house warming (celebration); promotion (celebration)

phrase

Showing 12 of 28 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

听到这个好消息,全家人都出望外。

Tīng dào zhè gè hǎo xiāoxi, quán jiā rén dōu xǐ chū wàng wài.

Hearing this good news, the whole family was overjoyed.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

(米兰冬奥会)惊与突破交织 中国冰雪向新而行

( mǐ lán dōng ào huì ) jīng xǐ yǔ tū pò jiāo zhī zhōng guó bīng xuě xiàng xīn ér háng

(Milan Winter Olympics) Surprises and breakthroughs are intertwined, and China's ice and snow are moving towards the new

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走基层|迎10名小马宝宝,一天8台手术——他..

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng xǐ yíng 1 0 míng xiǎo mǎ bǎo bǎo , yī tiān 8 tái shǒu shù — — tā . .

Welcome 10 pony babies, 8 surgeries a day - he:

百度新闻Feb 2026

徐梦桃、邵琪冬奥会摘金夺铜,母校发来

xú mèng táo 邵 琪 dōng ào huì zhāi jīn duó tóng , mǔ jiào fā lái xǐ bào

Xu Mengtao and Shao Qi win gold and bronze in Winter Olympics, and their alma mater sends them a happy report.

百度新闻Feb 2026

马年迎新!湖南省妇幼保健院迎24名“小骏马”宝宝

mǎ nián yíng xīn ! hú nán shěng fù yòu bǎo jiàn yuàn xǐ yíng míng xiǎo jùn mǎ bǎo bǎo

The Year of the Horse! Hunan Maternal and Child Health Hospital welcomes 24 "Little Stallion" babies!

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走基层|拉萨:年货购销两旺 高原迎新年

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng lā sà nián huò gòu xiāo liǎng wàng gāo yuán xǐ yíng xīn nián

Spring Festival at the Grassroots Level | Lhasa: New Year Shopping Booms as Plateau Welcomes the New Year

Tatoeba

你更欢哪个,这个还是那个?

Nǐ gèng xǐhuan něige, zhège háishi nèige?

Which do you like better, this or that?

Tatoeba

欢什么风格的音乐?

Nǐ xǐhuan shénme fēnggé de yīnyuè?

What kind of music do you like?

Tatoeba

大家都欢音乐吗?

Dàjiā dōu xǐhuan yīnyuè ma?

Does everybody love music?

Tatoeba

你最欢什么电视剧?

Nǐ zuì xǐhuan shénme diànshìjù?

Which drama series do you like best?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 喜 (xǐ) mean in Chinese?
喜 (xǐ) primarily means "to be fond of." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #668 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 喜 have?
喜 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 喜?
The radical associated with 喜 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 喜?
喜 is composed of: 壴 (structural), 口 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱壴口 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 喜?
Common words with 喜 include: 喜欢 (xǐ huan, "to like"); 恭喜 (gōng xǐ, "to congratulate"); 惊喜 (jīng xǐ, "nice surprise"); 喜剧 (xǐ jù, "a comedy"); 喜爱 (xǐ ài, "to like"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 喜 (xǐ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xǐ: 吸 (to breathe), 西 (the West), 希 (to hope), 息 (breath), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 喜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 喜 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.