HSK 1 · Greetings

喂 wéi “hello (on phone)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 喂 means

  1. hello (on phone)
  2. hello (when answering the phone)

Also read wèi: “to feed”

See the page for 喂 wèi

How to say 喂

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale喂wéi2nd tone, rising

喂 in a sentence

  1. 喂？你还在吗？

    Wéi? Nǐ hái zài ma?

    Hello? Are you still there?

    Sentence #502848 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 喂，你能把灯关掉吗？

    Wéi, nǐ néng bǎ dēng guāndiào ma?

    Hey, could you turn the lights off?

    Sentence #9012244 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 喂，你好！请问你是哪位？

    Wéi, nǐ hǎo! Qǐngwèn nǐ shì nǎ wèi?

    Hello! May I ask who’s calling?

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 喂 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 喂 (wéi) with each of its parts in a different colour
喂wéihello
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 畏fear · wèiSound part

口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 畏 (wèi) hints at the sound. Compare it with wéi.

How to write 喂

喂 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 喂

More words: Greetings & Phrases

谢谢xièxie · thank you不客气bú kèqi · you’re welcome再见zàijiàn · goodbye对不起duìbuqǐ · sorry没关系méi guānxi · it’s okay

FAQs

喂 (wéi) means “hello (on phone)” or “hello (when answering the phone)”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it wéi: wéi with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 喂 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type wei with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 喂 from the suggestions. Typing wei into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
Yes. Read wèi, 喂 means “to feed”. That reading has its own page. Read wéi, it means “hello (on phone)”.
喂 is an HSK 1 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). Example sentences written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.