駭 (hài) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

駭

hài[hai4]Tone 4

to astonish, to startle, or to hack

HSK 7

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骇

Guru Deep Dive

English · to astonish, to startle, or to hack

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (马) should be slightly narrower to leave ample room for the right component (亥), keeping the overall character square and balanced.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 駭 uses the complex radical 馬 on the left, which is simplified to 马 in modern Chinese.

1. Meaning

to astonish or startle

to be shocked or frightenedto hack in computing (phonetic loanword)

VerbFormal / Literary (primarily found in compound words like 惊骇)Bound morpheme#emotion#fear#technology

Sample Usage

这个消息令人惊骇。
zhè ge xiāo xi lìng rén jīng hài.
This news is startling/shocking to people.
他是一名电脑骇客。
tā shì yì míng diàn nǎo hài kè.
He is a computer hacker.

2. Sound

/[xaɪ̯⁵¹]/Tone: 51

駭

hàihai4

`(51)

=hài

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

hai

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "a" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Velar Fricative

Sounds like: h sound as in 'hat'

Unaspirated

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Back of the tongue approaches the soft palate to create slight friction, but air flows freely without strong popping.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -ai rhymes with 'high' or 'pie'

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

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

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and drops sharply to the bottom, just like shouting a sudden command or expressing sharp shock ('Hey!').

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the 4th falling tone (hài) with the 3rd dipping tone (hǎi), or mixing up the initial 'h-' with 'f-' or 'sh-'.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, forceful chop downward with your hand, mirroring a sudden startle or gasp.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 9 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (马) should be slightly narrower to leave ample room for the right component (亥), keeping the overall character square and balanced.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 駭 uses the complex radical 馬 on the left, which is simplified to 马 in modern Chinese.

4. Components

Radical 马 · Horse Radical (Horse)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 马 (Indicates horses, movement, or sudden startled action (historically related to horses bolting in fright).)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 亥 (original sound: hài)

A horse (马) that gets startled and jumps at the sound of the twelfth earthly branch (亥), leaving it shocked and terrified.

马 Horse (semantic clue related to animal panic)
亥 Provides the pronunciation 'hài'

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

21· Phonetic Root: 亥 (hài)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined 马 (horse) and 亥 (phonetic) to describe a horse that is startled, running wild, or frightened out of its wits.

Semantic Evolution: Expanded from describing frightened horses to general human astonishment, panic, fear, and in modern times, phonetically borrowed for computer 'hacker' (骇客).

Classical texts frequently use 骇 to describe chaotic military retreats or stampeding livestock.

6. Sinosphere

Sound Shift Bridge: The modern computing use of 骇客 (hàikè) is a direct phonetic loanword from English 'hacker'.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine a wild horse (马) standing near a clock chiming at the hour of 12 (亥). The sudden loud chime startles the horse so much that it bolts away in pure astonishment (骇).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

亥

hài12th earthly branch: 9-11 p.m., 10th solar month (7th November-6th December), year of the Boar; ancient Chinese compass point: 330°Phonetic Core (声旁)

孩

háichild+ 子 (child)

刻

kèquarter (hour), moment, to carve+ 刂 (knife)

该

gāishould+ 讠 (speech)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

惊(jīng)

惊 means frighten/startle as well, but uses the heart radical (忄) instead of the horse radical (马).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

這個黑客入侵了系統，真令人驚___。

Clue: hài

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the right-hand phonetic component 亥 with similar-looking characters or forgetting that the modern simplified radical is 马.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the character 骇, what does it mean and how is it pronounced?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to startle / hack' pronounced 'hài'?

駭hàito astonish, to startle, or to hack

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