How to Write 氦 (hài) — Meaning “Helium”

Imagine a helium balloon (气) floating up to the sky, and the right side 亥 looks like a smiling face with a big nose. The "hai" sound in 亥 can remind you of the word "hi" — as if the balloon is saying "Hi!" as it floats away. This connects the shape and sound to helium gas.

Write the radical 气 first: three strokes — a left-falling stroke, then a horizontal stroke with a hook, and finally a short curved stroke on the right. Then write 亥: start with the top dot, then the horizontal stroke, then the left-falling stroke, and finally the right-falling stroke. A common mistake is making the right side of 气 too wide — keep it narrow so the character stays balanced.

All three share the 气 radical, but 氦 means helium, 氛 means atmosphere or mood (like 氛围, atmosphere), and 氜 is a rare character for helium (ancient variant). Visually, 氦 has 亥 on the right, 氛 has 分 (fēn, to divide), and 氜 has 日 (rì, sun). Only 氦 is commonly used for the element helium in modern Chinese.

氦 is used mainly in scientific and everyday contexts to refer to helium gas. Common words include 氦气 (helium gas) and 氦气球 (helium balloon), which you see at parties or in science classes. It is not part of the HSK vocabulary, so you will mostly encounter it in chemistry or when talking about balloons.

Common words containing 氦 include: 氦气 (hài qì) — Helium gas; 氦气球 (hài qì qiú) — Helium balloon; 氦星 (hài xīng) — Helium star.