唉 · āi
alas, exclamation of surprise or pain
Meanings & readings
Meaning & readings
alas, exclamation of surprise or pain
- Mandarin
- āi
- Cantonese
- aai1
Unihan definitions and selected character readings. Read the word to establish its pronunciation in context.
Readings in Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese
Readings recorded for 唉 in other language traditions. These are character-level records, not word translations or interchangeable pronunciations.
Japanese 日本語
Grouped by the source’s kana notation; no frequency ranking is implied.
On’yomi · katakana
Kun’yomi · hiragana
Katakana generally indicates on’yomi; hiragana generally indicates kun’yomi. The source does not identify everyday, rare, historical or name use per reading. Kana strings are preserved, including any written endings; consult a Japanese word entry for actual use.
Go deeperJisho ↗Wiktionary ↗
Korean 한국어
Hanja readings · Hangul
Source codes are separated below. They are neither sounds nor tones; a character reading alone does not specify a whole word’s pronunciation.
Go deeperNaver Hanja ↗Wiktionary ↗
Reading sources explained
- 애
- KS X 1002 (1) · Personal-name Hanja (N)
Vietnamese Tiếng Việt
Character readings · Quốc ngữ
Vietnamese readings associated with this Han character. This field alone does not establish word meanings, current usage, or a complete account of Hán-Nôm reading traditions.
Go deeperHán Việt (Thi Viện) ↗Wiktionary ↗
Form & structure
Writing & identity
- Unicode
- U+5509
- Radical
- 口 · 30
- Strokes
- 10 · Unihan
- Residual
- 7
Source record · Unihan 17.0. Individual senses and historical claims have not yet been reviewed by zimai.
Stroke order
10 strokesModern stroke order; regional conventions can differ. Stroke medians: Make Me a Hanzi via HanziLookupJS, drawn as an even pen line.
Graphical structure
How to read these symbols
⿰ left–right · ⿱ above–below · ⿻ overlap. Dotted boxes indicate positions, not missing characters. Each symbol describes the components that follow it; nested symbols describe a component in more detail. Source codes identify alternative analyses, not a writing sequence or an etymology.
BabelStone IDS · 2025-06-27. Region tags are preserved; 〾 marks approximation and {n} identifies an unencoded source component. These describe graphical structure, not historical derivation.
Words & connections
Words using 唉
Character connections
No reverse component match in this collection.
Component roles · attributed
- 矣 sound component · CJKVI analysis
Source analysis · 矣聲
Line 4090 · ⿰口矣 · 矣聲 · source reference 0220760
Source analyses, kept separate from modern IDS. CJKVI labels are not individually verified historical conclusions. Evidence & limits ↗
History & distinctions
Related forms
No simplified/traditional variant property is retained for this record.
Historical readings
- Middle Chinese
- 'oj · 烏開 反切 · #385
- Middle Chinese
- 'eajX · 於駭 反切 · #1427
Guangyun-based transcriptions · PHONO-ML · CC BY 4.0. These describe historical reading categories, not modern word pronunciation.
Source row & reading categories
CSV line 3333 · 'oj = 蟹開一平咍影 · 'eajX = 蟹開二上皆影
Automatically generated in the source dataset; the authors checked a subset and acknowledge possible errors. All source readings are retained separately. Notation & method ↗
Sources & reference
Evidence & next depth
Retained Unihan properties
- kMandarin
- āi
- kCantonese
- aai1
- kDefinition
- alas, exclamation of surprise or pain
- kTotalStrokes
- 10
- kRSUnicode
- 30.7
- kGradeLevel
- 4
- kTGH
- 2013:1916
Readings across dictionaries
- Hanyu Da Zidian
- āi,ǎi,ài 10635.060
- Xiandai Hanyu · 1983
- āi 0003.050 · ài 0004.100
- Tongyong Guifan · 2013
- āi 002.010 · ài 002.140
- Mandarin / Cantonese · SMSZD
- āi粵aai1 ài粵aai3
Reference desk
- Fanqie spellings
- 烏開 於駭
- Kangxi positions
- 0192.040
- Guangyun positions
- 099.07 271.36
- GSR references
- 0938a
- Cangjie
- RIOK
- Four-corner
- 6303.4