惠 (huì) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

惠

huì[hui4]Tone 4

kindness

HSK 5

Guru Deep Dive

English · kindness

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:12

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the top element (亡) compact and centered, while the bottom structure (心) stretches horizontally to provide a solid, stable base.

1. Meaning

act of kindness or favor

surname Huihonorific prefix used in polite business or formal correspondence

Noun / Verb / Bound formFormal / LiteraryBound morpheme#politeness#society#ethics

Sample Usage

感谢您的惠顾。
gǎnxiè nín de huìgù.
Thank you for your patronage.
多谢关惠。
duōxiè guānhuì.
Many thanks for your kind favor and care.

2. Sound

/[xweɪ̯⁵¹]/Tone: 51

惠

huìhui4

`(51)

=huì

Initial Consonant

Type: Velar Fricative

Sounds like: h sound like in 'hat'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Gentle throat friction (like fogging glasses on a cold day).

Tongue & Mouth Position: Glottis open with air passing through freely, tongue resting flat at the bottom of the mouth.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -i vowel group

Sounds like: -ui rhymes with way

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'way'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Abbreviated Rhyme Rule: ui is short for uei

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 drops sharply from high to low pitch, exactly like shouting a sudden command in English.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the fourth tone drop with a third tone dip, or mispronouncing the diphthong '-ui' (which expands from 'u' to 'ei') as a pure 'oo-ee'.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 4 starts high and chops straight down like a karate chop, mirroring a definitive command or an abrupt 'No!'.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 12 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the top element (亡) compact and centered, while the bottom structure (心) stretches horizontally to provide a solid, stable base.

4. Components

Radical 心 · Heart Radical (Heart, mind, emotion)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 心 (Indicates that kindness and favors originate from the heart.)

The character combines 'a dead/hidden lid' (亡) over a 'mouth' (口) and a 'heart' (心) at the bottom, symbolizing putting away selfish thoughts in one's heart to show genuine kindness to others.

亡 Top phonetic/structural element
口 Middle enclosing component
心 Bottom heart radical providing the semantic core

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

3· Phonetic Root: 叀 ()

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally derived from ancient scripts where the heart (心) denoted inner virtue, evolving to represent benevolent acts and favors bestowed upon others.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from a general sense of mental disposition and benevolence to specific formal usages like bestowing favors and honorific commercial prefixes.

Often used in classical and commercial Chinese to show utmost respect to customers or guests.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

To show true kindness (惠) from your heart (心), you must put away (亡) selfish words from your mouth (口).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

慧

huìWisdom, intelligenceAdds the hair/bristle component (彡) at the top to represent bright, sharp intelligence.

蔧

huìWeedy plantAdds the grass radical (艹) at the top.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

慧(huì)

惠 lacks the top hair/bristle strokes (彡) found in 慧 (wisdom).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

非常感谢您的[___]顾！

Clue: huì

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 惠 with 慧 due to identical pinyin, forgetting that 惠 uses the heart radical (心) for kindness whereas 慧 has the top bristles (彡) for wisdom.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What is the primary meaning and tone of 惠?

Production: How do you write the character for kindness/favor (huì) with 12 strokes?

惠huìkindness

Speed:

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