How to Write 喝 (hē/hè) — Meaning “To drink”

Imagine you open your mouth (口) and say 'Heh!' like you are about to drink something. The right side 曷 looks a bit like a person with a straw reaching toward their mouth—just picture that straw going into a cup of water.

Start by writing the small mouth radical (口) on the left, making it narrow and tall. The right side has two main parts: a 日-like shape at the top, then a curved hook (㇆) and a stroke down—make sure the whole right side is not too wide. A common mistake is to drop the tiny horizontal stroke inside the top part, so count carefully: 12 strokes total.

喝 always has the mouth radical (口) on the left, so it is directly about drinking. 㕡 is extremely rare and means 'a hole' or 'a gully'—it has the same right side but a different left radical (perhaps 谷), so you will almost never see it. 哥 (gē) means 'elder brother' and is symmetrical with two 可 stacked; it has no mouth radical, so just remember 'brother has two mouths but no drink.'

喝 is used for any liquid you drink, such as 喝水 (drink water) or 喝酒 (drink alcohol). Note that in 喝彩 (hè cǎi, to cheer), the pronunciation changes to the fourth tone hè, so be careful with tones. In Chinese culture, offering someone a drink is a common polite gesture, and the phrase 喝茶 (drink tea) is especially social.

Common words containing 喝 include: 喝水 (hē shuǐ) — To drink water; 喝酒 (hē jiǔ) — To drink alcohol; 喝彩 (hè cǎi) — to cheer; to applaud.