HSK 4 · Emotions

后悔 hòuhuǐ “to regret” in Chinese

Traditional 後悔

What 后悔 means

  1. to regret
  2. to feel remorse

How to say 后悔

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale后hòu4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale悔huǐ3rd tone, dipping

后悔 in a sentence

  1. 现在后悔也没用了。

    Xiànzài hòuhuǐ yě méiyòng le.

    It’s no use regretting it now.

    Sentence #1780717 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 早上，我十分后悔昨天熬夜到那么晚。

    Zǎoshang, wǒ shífēn hòuhuǐ zuótiān áoyè dào nàme wǎn.

    In the morning, I really regretted staying up so late the night before.

    Sentence #1743582 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我不后悔。

    Wǒ bú hòuhuǐ.

    I don’t regret it.

    Sentence #781534 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 后悔 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 后 (hòu) drawn as one shape
后hòuempress

后 is a single shape of 6 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidIts first meaning was “queen”. As a simplified character it also stands for 後: behind, after.

The character 悔 (huǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
悔huǐto regret; to repent
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 每each · měiSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 每 (měi) hints at the sound. Compare it with huǐ.

How to write 后悔

后 6 strokes · 悔 10 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

后悔 (hòuhuǐ) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 后悔 (hòuhuǐ). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 后悔

Words with 后

后hòu · after后面hòumiàn · back后来hòulái · afterwards最后zuìhòu · last然后ránhòu · then以后yǐhòu · after后天hòutiān · the day after tomorrow后年hòunián · the year after next之后zhīhòu · after后背hòubèi · back (of the body)

Words with 悔

悔恨huǐhèn · remorse

More words: Emotions & Feelings

烦恼fánnǎo · to be worried感动gǎndòng · to be moved感情gǎnqíng · emotion害羞hàixiū · shy激动jīdòng · excited骄傲jiāo'ào · proud紧张jǐnzhāng · nervous开心kāixīn · to feel happy

FAQs

后悔 (hòuhuǐ) means “to regret” or “to feel remorse”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it hòuhuǐ: hòu with a 4th tone, then huǐ with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 后悔 is written 後悔. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type houhui with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 后悔 from the suggestions. Typing houhui into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
后悔 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.