会 (kuài) · accounting, to reckon accounts

Meanings

1 accounting
2 to reckon accounts

Characters

会

kuài

accounting

Examples

HSK 6

她是一名会计师。

Tā shì yì míng kuàijìshī.

She is an accountant.

HSK 6

会计是一个重要的职业。

Kuàijì shì yí gè zhòngyào de zhíyè.

Accounting is an important profession.

Tips

mistakes

The kuài reading of 会 is bound - it appears only inside 会计 (accounting / accountant) and its close derivatives like 会计师 (CPA) and 注册会计师 (certified public accountant). For meetings, ability, or future tense, 会 is always huì. If you see 会 directly followed by 计 in an accounting context, switch to kuài; otherwise default to huì.

Components

radical

人 rén

person

Person radical (Kangxi 9) at the top, with arms outstretched into the wide ∧-roof. 会 is grouped under 人 because meetings are gatherings of people; the same human-roof silhouette appears in 今 (now), 全 (whole), and 命 (life).

phonetic

云 yún

cloud; to say

Phonetic - 云 drifted irregularly to huì in this character. Simplified 会 was reformed from traditional 會, which had a more complex middle stack. The modern 云 below is a simplifier's substitution that gives a faint 'cloud of voices' image - fitting for a meeting where people gather and speak.