About
The character "嗨" is a relatively modern creation in Chinese, primarily functioning as a phonetic loan character whose meaning has shifted according to linguistic need. Its structure combines the mouth radical (口) with the character 海 (hǎi, meaning "sea"), which serves as its phonetic component, indicating its pronunciation was originally close to "hǎi". Historically, this form was used as an onomatopoeic interjection to convey sounds such as sighing, sorrow, or a shout. Its contemporary use as a casual greeting, equivalent to the English "hi", is a later semantic development, representing a direct phonetic borrowing to accommodate a foreign lexical item into the Chinese language, while its earlier expressive uses have largely faded from common usage.
Example Sentences Hide
嗨，我是小明。
嗨，你最近好吗？
嗨，大家早上好！
他高兴地嗨了起来。
我们周末去嗨皮吧！
嗨，别忘了带书包。
听到音乐，她忍不住嗨起来。
尽管很累，但他还是嗨了一整夜。