How to Write 噻 (sāi) — Meaning “Thia- (used in chemical names) / Oh (exclamation)”

Imagine someone saying "Wow!" and then putting a plug (塞) in their mouth to show surprise. The mouth radical 口 plus 塞 (to block) suggests the exclamation "噻" is a sound made when your mouth is partly closed. This helps link the shape to the meaning of an exclamation.

Start with the left radical 口 as a small square, then write the right part 塞. 塞 itself has many strokes: top is 宀, then 井 (without bottom horizontal), then 土. A common mistake is making the right side too wide or forgetting the middle strokes. Keep the left 口 small and the right side balanced.

㕡 is a very rare character, while 嗽 (sòu) means "cough" and has the right component 欶. 噻 is used for chemical names and the exclamation "哇噻", whereas 嗽 is a verb for coughing. Visually, 噻's right side is 塞, while 嗽's right side is 欶, which looks different.

噻 is mainly used in chemical transliterations like 噻吩 (thiophene) and 噻唑 (thiazole), and in the exclamation 哇噻 (wow!). 哇噻 is a popular slang expression showing surprise or excitement, common in informal speech. It is not taught in HSK.

Common words containing 噻 include: 哇噻 (wa sāi) — wow!; 噻吩 (sāi fēn) — Thiophene; 噻唑 (sāi zuò) — Thiazole.