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噫

yī
interjection #64,446

Meanings

  1. 1 (literary) alas; an exclamation of sighing or lament
  2. 2 (reading ài) to belch

Examples

噫！微斯人，吾谁与归？
Yī! wēi sī rén, wú shuí yǔ guī?
Alas! Without such a person, whom would I follow?

Tips

history
Rare in modern Chinese, where a sigh is 唉. It survives in famous classical lines such as Fan Zhongyan's 噫！微斯人 and Li Bai's opening 噫吁嚱; a separate reading ài means 'to belch'.
register
Literary only — found in classical essays and poetry as an exclamation, not in modern speech.

Components

radical
口 kǒu
mouth
The mouth radical 口 marks this as a vocal sound — a sighing exclamation, or in the other reading, a belch.
phonetic
意 yì
meaning; intent; here phonetic
The right side 意 supplies the sound, drifting from yì to yī; it carries no 'meaning' sense into this exclamation.

Stroke Order

噫 yī