hei3愾忾
Jyutpinghei3
Yalehei
Definition
To sigh or heave a sigh.
colloquialdaily actionsemotion
How it's used
Although the character 愾 is historically associated with sighing, it is almost never used in modern Cantonese. The character 嘆 is the standard and exclusively used form for expressing a sigh in both written and spoken contexts. Using 愾 will be perceived as a typo or an archaic error by native speakers.
Related words
Common mistake
Learners often confuse the character 嘆 with 難 or 漢 due to visual similarity. Always ensure you use the mouth radical on the left to indicate the vocal act of sighing.
Grammar color guide
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Grammar guides
- In 30 secondsThe whole language at a glance. No tenses, no plurals, six tones, sentence particles. Read this before you dive into any specific topic.
- ParticlesSentence particles add tone, emotion, and nuance. Learn the most common particles in Cantonese and how to use them.
- Possession (嘅)How to say my, your, and his, and how to link a describing word to a noun, all with the little word 嘅 (ge3).
