谐

諧
xié
adjective #28,556

Meanings

  1. 1 harmonious
  2. 2 humorous

Examples

HSK 4
Jiātíng héxié shì yíqiè xìngfú de jīchǔ.
Family harmony is the foundation of all happiness.
HSK 7-9
Zhōngwén wǎngluò yōumò chángcháng yīkào xiéyīn gěng.
Chinese internet humor often relies on homophone puns.

Tips

memory
言 speech + 皆 all - when all voices speak together harmoniously.

Components

radical
讠 yán
speech (radical form of 言)
Left speech radical - the simplified two-stroke side-form of 言, originally a mouth above a horizontal stroke. Indexes 谐 in the speech-and-discourse family with 说 to speak, 话 words, 谈 to chat, 译 to translate. Anchors the meaning: harmony in 谐 is fundamentally agreement reached through talking together.
phonetic
皆 jiē
all; together
Right 皆 supplies the sound - jiē shifting to xié via initial alternation in classical readings. Beautifully, 皆 itself means 'all together, in unison,' which gives 谐 a strong semantic bonus: harmonious is what happens when everyone speaks in agreement. Sound and meaning lock together to give 'all-voices-aligned.'

Stroke Order

谐 xié