How to Write 哀 (āi) — Meaning “sorrow”

Imagine a person dressed in funeral clothes (衣) opening their mouth (口) to cry loudly. The mouth and clothes together form the idea of sorrow. This visual helps you recall that 哀 means grief or mourning.

First write the mouth radical (口) as a box using three strokes: left vertical, top-and-right corner, then bottom horizontal. Then add the clothing component (衣) below with a horizontal stroke, left-falling stroke, right-falling stroke, and a small dot. Common mistakes include making the clothing part too narrow or forgetting the dot.

哀 has clothing (衣) at the bottom, while 君 has a hand-like component (尹) and means 'ruler,' and 吝 has a script component (文) meaning 'stingy.' Visually, the bottom of 哀 looks like a vertical line with two curved strokes and a dot; the other two have different bottom shapes. Their meanings are unrelated: sorrow, lord, and miserly.

哀 appears in formal or literary expressions of sadness, such as 悲哀 (grief), 哀求 (to implore with sorrow), and 哀悼 (to mourn). It is common in funeral notices and condolence messages. Culturally, 哀 carries a deep, solemn tone and is not used casually in everyday speech.

Common words containing 哀 include: 悲哀 (bēi āi) — grieved; sorrowful; 哀求 (āi qiú) — to implore; 哀悼 (āi dào) — to mourn.