hài
noun HSK 5 #1,494

Meanings

  1. 1 harm; evil
  2. 2 to cause harm; to be afraid

Examples

HSK 2
Bié hàipà!
Don't be afraid!
HSK 4
Xīyān yǒuhài jiànkāng.
Smoking is harmful to health.
HSK 7-9
Hàixiū de nǚhái dīxià le tóu.
The shy girl lowered her head.

Tips

usage
has two main uses: harm (有害 harmful, 害处 disadvantage, 伤害 to hurt) and fear/shyness (害怕 afraid, 害羞 shy). 厉害 means 'awesome/fierce'.

Components

radical
mián
roof; house (radical)
Top roof radical (Kangxi #40) - pictures a peaked house roof with an extending eave. Indexes in the building family with , , , 宿. The radical sets the scene: something happening inside or under a house. Many characters about danger and protection live here, since the home was the locus of safety.
phonetic
fēng
abundant; lush
Middle - historically the phonetic supplying an old reading close to gài/hài. itself depicts plants growing thickly. In the upper-middle was originally a stylised stalks-on-soil shape that has since converged with the standalone in modern handwriting. Provides the sound.
semantic
kǒu
mouth
Bottom mouth - pictograph of an open mouth. Carries the meaning core: the original sense was malicious speech, words spoken under one's roof that wound others. From 'speech that injures' came the broader 'to harm, to damage, danger.' The mouth-under-the-roof picture also fits 害怕 'to fear' - being afraid in one's own home.

Stroke Order

hài