Definition
咳 (ké) is a concise, often literary or formal way to say 'cough' — it is used as a single-character verb. In everyday speech, the two-character 咳嗽 (ké sou) is more common and natural.
verb
to cough
Easily confused
- 核hélook-alikepit, stone (of fruit)
- 可kěsound-alike(adverb) used for emphasis: really, certainly, very
- 该gāilook-alike(modal verb) should, ought to; used to indicate strong necessity or likelihood
- 克kèsound-alike(classifier) gram (unit of weight)
- 刻kèlook-alike(classifier) quarter (of an hour); a short moment
- 颗kēsound-alike(classifier) for small roundish objects such as pearls, grains, teeth, hearts, stars, satellites
- 课kèsound-alikeclass; lesson; subject; course
- 科kēsound-alike(noun) subject, discipline, field of study
- 棵kēsound-alike(classifier) for trees, cabbages, plants, and other growing vegetation
- 渴kěsound-alikethirsty
Examples
- ，咳。Tā gǎnmào le, yìzhí zài ké.He has a cold and has been coughing.
- 咳，。Nǐ ké de hěn lìhai, qù xiūxi ba.You cough a lot, go rest.
- 咳，。Tā ké le yì shēng, ránhòu kāishǐ shuōhuà.He coughed once, then started speaking.
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