嘻 meaning and stroke order
Happy, giggling, laughing; an interjection
How to write 嘻, stroke by stroke
15 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 嘻
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- laugh
- giggle
- (interjection expressing admiration, surprise etc)
- (interjection expressing surprise, grief etc)
- variant of 嘻[xi1]
How 嘻 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A happy 喜 sound 口; 喜 also provides the pronunciation.
Radical: 口 (mouth), shared by 428 characters on this site.
How to remember 嘻
嘻 is a mouth 口 next to 喜 (xǐ, happy). A happy sound coming out of the mouth is a giggle, and 喜 also hints at the sound xī.
嘻 rarely appears alone in modern speech. You will mostly see it doubled as 嘻嘻 for giggling, often in text messages, or in the loanword 嘻哈 (xīhā, hip-hop). Example: 她嘻嘻地笑了。(Tā xīxī de xiào le.) She giggled.
Common mistake: Learners often read 嘻 with the third tone of 喜 (xǐ), but 嘻 is first tone, xī. Also do not confuse it with 嬉 (xī, to play), which has 女 instead of 口.
Common words with 嘻
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 嘻嘻 | xīxī | hee hee; happy | |
| 嘻哈 | xīhā | hip-hop (music genre) (loanword) |
嘻 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 嘻
How many strokes are in 嘻?
嘻 is written with 15 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 嘻 mean?
嘻 (xī) means happy, giggling, laughing; an interjection. A common word with it is 嘻嘻 (xīxī), meaning "hee hee; happy".
How do you pronounce 嘻?
嘻 is pronounced xī, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 嘻?
The radical of 嘻 is 口, which carries the idea of "mouth". Dictionaries list 嘻 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 嘻?
The traditional form of 嘻 is 譆. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 嘻 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
What is the difference between 嘻嘻 and 哈哈 in texting?
哈哈 (hāhā) is open, loud laughter, like 'haha'. 嘻嘻 (xīxī) is softer and cuter, like 'hehe' or 'teehee', and often sounds playful or a little shy.
Is 嘻 used as an interjection today?
As a standalone interjection of surprise or admiration, 嘻 is mostly found in classical or literary texts. In everyday modern Chinese it is almost always part of 嘻嘻, 嘻哈, or 笑嘻嘻 (xiàoxīxī, smiling happily).