喝 (hè): to shout; to cry out loudly

Meanings

1 to shout; to cry out loudly
2 to acclaim; to cheer (bound, in compounds)

Characters

喝

hè

to shout; to cry out loudly

Examples

HSK 5

观众为他的表演喝彩。

Guānzhòng wèi tā de biǎoyǎn hècǎi.

The audience cheered for his performance.

HSK 5

老师严厉的话对他来说是当头棒喝。

Lǎoshī yánlì de huà duì tā láishuō shì dāngtóubànghè.

The teacher's stern words were a wake-up call for him.

HSK 7-9

他大喝一声，吓退了贼人。

Tā dà hè yī shēng, xiàtuì le zéirén.

He let out a loud shout and scared the thief away.

Tips

usage

hè is a bound reading - 喝 does not stand alone as a modern verb. It only appears inside a small set of compounds: 喝彩 (to cheer / acclaim), 喝道 (to shout - usually introducing dialogue, like English 'barked'), 大喝一声 (to let out a roar), 当头棒喝 (a Chan-Buddhist wake-up shout), 开锣喝道 (to bang gongs and shout one's arrival). For everyday 'to shout' as a free verb, use 喊 instead.

culture

当头棒喝 ('a blow on the head and a shout') comes from Chan/Zen Buddhism - masters in the Linji line would suddenly hit students with a stick or roar at them to jolt them out of conceptual thinking into direct awakening. The phrase now means any sharp wake-up call that snaps someone out of complacency.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Left mouth radical - the indexing semantic. Shouting is a mouth action, putting hè-喝 alongside other mouth-verbs of voice: 喊 (shout), 叫 (yell), 吼 (roar), 呵 (scold). Same radical also carries the drink-reading hē - context, not shape, picks the tone.

phonetic

曷 hé

how; why (classical, here phonetic)

Right 曷 supplies the sound - the falling tone landed on hè in shout-compounds. Same phonetic family includes 渴 (thirsty), 揭 (uncover), 竭 (exhaust). The hè reading is the older one in this 口+曷 body - classical texts use 喝 for shouting; the drink sense hē developed later and now dominates.