嗨

hāi
口 + 海
HSK 2.0Level 6

Definitions

hāi (interjection) hey; hi
hāi (adjective) high (from drugs or natural euphoria)

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 口 represents the meaning and 海 represents the sound.

Semantic: 口 Phonetic: 海

About

嗨 (hāi) is a modern phono-semantic compound formed to transcribe foreign interjections. Its left component is the mouth radical 口, marking it as a vocalization. The right component, 海 (hǎi), provides the pronunciation but not its meaning of "ocean". The character primarily functions as a phonetic loan for the English greetings "hi" and "hey". In contemporary usage, it also commonly represents the English word "high" to describe a state of excitement or elation, especially in social contexts.

Example Sentences Hide

嗨，我是小明。

Hāi, wǒ shì Xiǎo Míng.

Hi, I am Xiaoming.

嗨，你最近好吗？

Hāi, nǐ zuìjìn hǎo ma?

Hi, how have you been recently?

嗨，大家早上好！

Hāi, dàjiā zǎoshang hǎo!

Hi, everyone, good morning!

他高兴地嗨了起来。

Tā gāoxìng de hāi le qǐlái.

He cheered happily.

我们周末去嗨皮吧！

Wǒmen zhōumò qù hāipí ba!

Let's go have fun this weekend!

嗨，别忘了带书包。

Hāi, bié wàngle dài shūbāo.

Hi, don't forget to bring your schoolbag.

听到音乐，她忍不住嗨起来。

Tīng dào yīnyuè, tā rěn bù zhù hāi qǐlái.

Hearing the music, she couldn't help but get excited.

尽管很累，但他还是嗨了一整夜。

Jǐnguǎn hěn lèi, dàn tā háishì hāi le yī zhěng yè.

Although very tired, he still partied all night.

Related Characters

Component: 口

中 和 可 后 如 同 只 知 高 问 向 或 加 合

Example Words

自嗨