喝彩 (hè cǎi) — to cheer, to acclaim | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Shout praise or approval aloud, often for a performance or victory — louder and more vocal than 鼓掌 (which is hand-clapping). 称赞 is spoken to a person, while 喝彩 reacts to an event.

verb

to cheerto acclaim

Examples

喝彩。
Guān zhòng wèi yǎn yuán de biǎo yǎn hè cǎi.
The audience cheered for the actors' performance.
喝彩。
Qiú mí men wèi qiú duì de shèng lì rè liè hè cǎi.
The fans warmly cheered for the team's victory.
，喝彩。
Dà jiā tīng dào hǎo xiāo xi, dōu hè cǎi qǐ lái.
Everyone heard the good news and started cheering.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

喝 “shout” acts on 彩 “cheer”, so the word means to shout applause.

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.

口曷喝

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

曷

曷hé喝hē

Same sound today

The 口 part is a mouth. The 曷 part gives the sound.

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

采彡彩

Meaning part形符xíngfú

彡彡shān

Sound part声符shēngfú

采

采cǎi彩cǎi

Same sound today

彩 puts 采, which gives the sound, next to 彡, the three-stroke mark that carries the meaning.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Emotions & Feelings

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