to cause harm, damage, or trouble
evilcalamityto kill or murder (literary)to suffer from an illness
Verb / NounNeutral#danger#negative action#emotions
害
hàihai4
|++`(51)
=hài Type: Velar Fricative
Sounds like: English 'h' sound
Airflow Tactile Test: Gentle throat friction (like fogging glasses on a cold day).
Tongue & Mouth Position: The vocal cords are open, allowing air to rush through with friction in the throat.
Vowel Group: -a vowel group
Sounds like: -ai rhymes with 'hi' or 'pie'
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'eye'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 is equivalent to an emphatic English command or exclamation like 'No!' or 'Stop!'.
Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 4 syllable, it softens slightly to a 53 contour depending on speech speed.
👂Listening trap: Confusing the Tone 4 falling tone with Tone 3 dipping tone, or mistaking the initial 'h' for an aspirated 'k' or 'f'.
👋Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, authoritative downward chop of the hand, mirroring an angry or negative decree.
Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 10 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The top roof structure must shelter the components underneath symmetrically, keeping the vertical center axis aligned.
Radical 宀 · Roof radical (roof, house, shelter)
Semantic Clue (形旁): 宀 (Indicates something happening under a roof or inside a domestic space.)
Picture a roof (宀) sheltering a mouth or person that is experiencing trouble or injury.
- 宀 roof / shelter
- 口 mouth / speech
- 丰 lush / spreading out
Liushu category: Compound ideogram (会意)
Origin: Originally depicted harmful words or calamities arising from within a household or settlement under a roof.
Semantic Evolution: From domestic trouble or malevolent speech under a roof to general harm, injury, and suffering.
- It frequently pairs with words denoting disease, fear, or destruction.
🇻🇳Sino-Vietnamese
hại
Corresponds to the Vietnamese nặng tone in certain derivations.
🇯🇵Kanji (Japanese)
On: ガイ / Kun: がいする / The verb form 'gaisuru' means to harm.
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Underneath the house roof (宀), bad words coming from a mouth (口) cause a lot of harm (hài) to everyone inside.
害hàiharmBase character for harm.
鎅jièto cutUses metal radical for cutting tools.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
划(huà)
划 has the knife radical (刂) meaning to scratch or row, whereas 害 has the roof radical (宀).
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge 长时间玩手机对眼睛有[___]。
Clue: hài
Common Learner PitfallConfusing the top roof component (宀) with the treasure roof or crown component.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: When you see 害, what tone and primary English meaning come to mind?
Production: How do you write the character for 'harm' (hài) using the roof radical?
Speed: Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...