感叹词 (gǎn tàn cí) — interjection (part of speech); exclamation

Definition

A grammatical term for 'interjection' — words like 啊 or 哦 that express emotion rather than describe. It names the category itself, not a specific word.

noun
interjection (part of speech)exclamation

Examples

  • 感叹词。
    gǎn tàn cí Shì yì zhǒng biǎo shì qíng gǎn de cí lèi.
    An interjection is a type of word that expresses emotion.
  • 感叹词“”、“”。
    Zhōng wén lǐ cháng yòng de gǎn tàn cí yǒu "a", "ò" děng.
    Common interjections in Chinese include 'ah' and 'oh'.
  • 感叹词。
    Tā xiě wén zhāng shí xǐ huan yòng gǎn tàn cí.
    He likes to use interjections when writing essays.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

感叹exclaim with feeling
感gǎnfeel叹tànsigh
联合Side by side
词cíword

感 expresses feeling and 叹 expresses sighing, forming a term for exclamatory words.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
咸
咸xián感gǎn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

感 pairs 咸, which gives the sound, with 心, the heart, for feeling.

Open 感 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 嘆; 叹 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 叹 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words it is 嘆; in others it is 歎.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
歎
歎tàn嘆tàn
Same sound today

The traditional form 嘆 pairs 口 (mouth) with 歎 as the sound part; it shows a mouth letting out a sigh.

Open 叹 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 詞; 词 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech
Sound part声符shēngfú
司
司sī詞cí(r)
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 詞 uses 言, meaning speech, and 司 to show how it was pronounced; the simplified 词 is a shorthand, and its right side is not the historical sound part.

Open 词 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.