hāi

cough

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components
口 meaning component

  Meaning component

kǒu

  

mouth

亥 sound component

  Sound component

hài

  

12th terrestrial branch

Evolution

咳 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
咳 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
咳 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

hāi

sound of sighing; (interjection expressing surprise, sorrow, regret, disappointment etc) oh; damn; wow

 

cough

Most common words with 咳
Freq.
Word
Meaning

咳嗽

to cough

sound of sighing

止咳

to suppress coughing

百日咳

whooping cough

咳痰

to cough up phlegm