Chinese word dictionary

呜呼哀哉

wū hū āi zāi · alas; all is lost

Practice word

Word information

Simplified呜呼哀哉

Traditional嗚呼哀哉

Pinyinwū hū āi zāi

Part of speechDictionary

HSK 3.0Not listed

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

呜wū

the sound of someone crying or sobbing

呼hū

to breathe, to exhale, to sigh; to call, to shout

哀āi

sad, mournful, pitiful; to pity; to grieve

哉zāi

final exclamatory particle

How to learn 呜呼哀哉

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

打招呼dǎzhāohu

to greet sb by word or action; to give prior notice

呼吸hūxī

to breathe

称呼chēnghu

to call; to address as; form of address; appellation

哀求āiqiú

to entreat; to implore; to plead

悲哀bēi’āi

grieved; sorrowful

呼hū

to call; to cry; to shout; to breath out; to exhale; variant of 呼[hu1]; to shout; to call out