哉 (zāi) is a Chinese character meaning “Classical Chinese sentence-final particle marking”. It is written from 戈 (dagger-axe (ancient pole weapon); Kangxi radical 62) and 十 (ten) and 口 (mouth), one enclosing the other, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “classical exclamation particle”
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Structure
戈 + 十 + 口
Enclosing structure
- 戈 dagger-axe (ancient pole weapon); Kangxi radical 62 · gē sound
- 十 ten · shí sound
- 口 mouth · kǒu meaning
Structure from: 说文解字：哉，言之閒也。从口𢦏聲；现代字形拆分（戈/十/口）经 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验
Memory aid
A dagger-axe (戈) swings over a cross (十) and a mouth (口) underneath it cries out — 哉 is the exclamation mark of Classical Chinese.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 呜呼哀哉wū hū āi zāialas! — and that was the end of it哉 = zāi
- 善哉shàn zāiexcellent! well said!哉 = zāi
Go deeper
All readings
classical exclamatory particle
Classical Chinese sentence-final particle marking exclamation or a rhetorical question — "indeed!", "how ...!"; in modern Chinese it survives only inside set phrases.
文言语气词，用在句末表示感叹或反问；现代汉语里只保留在成语和固定说法中。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 呜呼哀哉wū hū āi zāialas! — and that was the end of it哉 = zāi
- 善哉shàn zāiexcellent! well said!哉 = zāi
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 哉 mean?
哉 (zāi) means Classical Chinese sentence-final particle marking exclamation or a rhetorical question — "indeed!", "how ...!"; in modern Chinese it survives only inside set phrases..
How do you pronounce 哉?
It is pronounced zāi.
What parts is 哉 made of?
戈 (dagger-axe (ancient pole weapon); Kangxi radical 62) and 十 (ten) and 口 (mouth), one enclosing the other. The recorded source is: 说文解字：哉，言之閒也。从口𢦏聲；现代字形拆分（戈/十/口）经 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 哉 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 哉?
口. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 哉?
Common ones are 呜呼哀哉 and 善哉. The reading of 哉 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.