嘿
hēi
嘿 (hēi) is the Chinese way to say 'hey'.
嘿 is a casual and friendly way to say 'hey' in Chinese. It is used as an attention-grabber or as an informal greeting, much like the English 'hey'.
Meaning: informal greeting (intj)
Which one should you use?
While 嘿 can be used as a greeting, it is more frequently used to grab someone's attention or to express surprise/interjection than a standard 'hello'.
How do you pronounce it?
hēi
Did you know?
- In traditional Chinese opera, stylized vocalizations similar to 嘿 are used as rhythmic cues to signal transitions between movements or musical sections.
- The character 嘿 also appears in the word 嘿嘿, which represents a specific type of chuckle often associated with embarrassment or a sly laugh.
- In certain contexts, 嘿 can be used as an exclamation of mischief or a 'eureka' moment, similar to how a character in a cartoon might say 'aha' when they have a plan.
Examples in context
- 嘿，放松点。Hey, relax.This example shows how to use 嘿 to tell someone to relax.Tatoeba #5102212 by mirrorvan, translation #325177 by CM
- 嘿，你在這做什麼？Hey, what are you doing here?This example shows how to use 嘿 when asking what someone is doing.Tatoeba #5496243 by egg0073, translation #3737888 by CK
- 嘿，你們看什麼呢？Hey, what are you guys looking at?This example shows how to use 嘿 when asking a group of people what they are looking at.Tatoeba #5640727 by verdastelo9604, translation #3575500 by CK
- 8 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two friends encounter each other on a busy street.
- 浩然 Haoran嘿，梓涵！Hēi, Zǐhán!Hey, Zihan!
- 梓涵 Zihan嘿，浩然，好久不見。Hēi, Hàorán, hǎojiǔ bújiàn.Hey, Haoran, long time no see.
- 浩然 Haoran你最近過得怎麼樣？Nǐ zuìjìn guò de zěnmeyàng?How have you been lately?
- 梓涵 Zihan還不錯，挺好的。Hái búcuò, tǐng hǎo de.Not bad, pretty good.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
