hái
noun #29,083

Meanings

  1. 1 bones of the body
  2. 2 skeleton
  3. 3 remains

Examples

HSK 3
Kǎogǔxuéjiā fāxiàn le gǔdài rénlèi de háigǔ.
Archaeologists discovered ancient human skeletal remains.
HSK 6
Zhànchǎng shàng liúxià le wúshù yīngxióng de bái hái.
The battlefield was left with the skeletal remains of countless heroes.

Tips

usage
rarely appears alone in modern Chinese. It is most commonly seen in the compound 骸骨 (skeleton/remains) or the literary phrase 形骸 (physical body/carnal form).

Components

radical
bone
Bone radical on the left, the indexing component. It pictures a skull-and-spine joint above a slab of meat below, and groups with the skeletal family: skull, skull, marrow, bones. Anywhere sits on the left, expect anatomy.
phonetic
hài
the last earthly branch (12th)
Right side hài supplies the sound with a small tone shift hài → hái. The same phonetic powers a tight family: child, ought, cough, kernel, carve - recognising here is the fastest way to lock in the hái reading.

Stroke Order

hái