和 (hè) · to compose a poem in reply using the same rhyme

Meanings

1 to compose a poem in reply using the same rhyme
2 to join in the singing
3 to chime in with; to echo

Characters

和

hè

to compose a poem in reply using the same rhyme

Examples

HSK 6

一人起调，众人齐和。

Yī rén qǐ diào, zhòngrén qí hè.

One person starts the tune, the rest join in singing together.

HSK 7-9

苏轼常和弟弟的诗。

Sū shì cháng hè dìdi de shī.

Su Shi often composed reply poems matching his younger brother's rhyme.

HSK 7-9

他一开口，大家纷纷附和。

Tā yī kāikǒu, dàjiā fēnfēn fùhè.

The moment he spoke, everyone chimed in to agree.

Tips

usage

hè is the 'answering / echoing' reading, almost always literary or set-phrase. Two main flavours: (1) matching another poet's rhyme scheme in a reply poem (classical 唱和 culture, especially Tang and Song); (2) joining in someone else's song or opinion, often dismissively as in 附和 (to parrot, to toady). The thread is 'second voice responding to a first.'

memory

Hé is the leader's voice (harmony, peace); hè is the follower's voice answering back. 曲高和寡 'the tune is lofty, the singers few' is the classic image: one person sings, few can hè (echo) along.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Right mouth radical, the indexing radical. The original meaning of 和 was 'voices responding in harmony' (still alive in 和谐 'harmony'). The mouth-radical anchors the speech-and-agreement origin; 'and / with' is a grammatical extension from this 'joining together' sense.

phonetic

禾 hé

grain; standing rice plant

Left 禾 supplies the sound exactly: hé to hé, no shift. Originally a pictograph of a rice plant heavy with grain. Adds a faint semantic flavour, voices in harmony like a stalk of grain bowing, though it functions primarily as a phonetic. Same family yields 私, 秋.