Meaning of 喂
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- hey
- to feed (an animal, baby, invalid etc)
- to feed
- variant of 餵|喂[wei4]
- hello (when answering the phone)
How to use 喂
As an interjection, 喂 gets someone's attention like "hey," and on the phone people say it to mean "hello." As a verb, it means to feed a baby, a pet, or a sick person. Example: 我每天喂猫。 (Wǒ měitiān wèi māo.) I feed the cat every day.
喂 has the mouth radical 口 on the left, so think of a mouth calling out "hey" or a mouth being fed. The right side 畏 (wèi) gives the sound, so 喂 sounds like wèi.
Common mistake: Learners often say 你好 when they answer the phone, but most native speakers simply say 喂. Many people say it with a rising tone, wéi, which sounds softer than the falling wèi. Also, do not write 胃 (wèi, stomach) when you mean 喂, even though they sound the same.
喂 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
喂 wèi · hey · 12 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 喂.
Questions about 喂
What does 喂 mean?
喂 (wèi) means "hey; to feed (an animal, baby, invalid etc)" and is used as a intj and verb.
How do you write 喂?
喂 is made of 1 character: 喂 (12 strokes). That is 12 strokes in total.
Is 喂 an HSK word?
Yes. 喂 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is it rude to say 喂 to someone?
On the phone, 喂 is completely normal and polite. Shouting 喂 at a stranger in person to get their attention can sound abrupt, so it is better to use 你好 or 请问 (qǐngwèn) instead.
What is the difference between 喂 and 喂养?
喂 is the everyday verb for feeding someone a meal or giving food right now. 喂养 (wèiyǎng) means to raise or keep a child or animal by feeding it over a long time, and it sounds more formal.