jiē
interjection #98,985

Meanings

  1. 1 (classical) alas; an exclamation of grief or sighing
  2. 2 (classical) hey; a call to summon someone

Examples

嗟乎师道久矣
Jiēhū, shīdào zhī bù chuán yě jiǔyǐ.
Alas! The way of learning from teachers has long been lost.

Tips

history
is a classical sighing exclamation that does not stand alone in modern speech. It survives in fixed literary phrases like 嗟乎 (alas!) and the idiom 嗟来之食 (food handed out with contempt). Modern Chinese uses for sighing instead.
register
Classical and literary only. You will see in old prose and chengyu, not in everyday conversation.

Components

radical
kǒu
mouth
The 'mouth' radical marks as a vocal exclamation and is its indexing radical, as in many interjection characters.
phonetic
chā
difference; to differ
The element supplies the sound; the reading has drifted somewhat from its modern values, common for old interjections.

Stroke Order

jiē