嗟

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

HSK 7-9
嗟乎,师道之不传也久矣。
Jiēhū, shīdào zhī bù chuán yě jiǔyǐ.
Alas! The way of learning from teachers has long been lost.

Tips

history
嗟 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 唉 for sighing instead.
register
Classical and literary only. You will see 嗟 in old prose and chengyu, not in everyday conversation.

Components

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

Stroke Order

嗟 jiē