話

See also: 话 and 活

Translingual

Etymology

From 言 ‘words’ + 舌 ‘tongue’

Han character

話 (radical 149 言+6, 13 strokes, cangjie input 卜口竹十口 (YRHJR), four-corner 0266₄, composition ⿰言舌)

1. speech, talk, language
2. dialect

References

• KangXi: page 1158, character 10
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 35441
• Dae Jaweon: page 1624, character 6
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 6, page 3965, character 6
• Unihan data for U+8A71

---

Cantonese

Hanzi

話 (simplified 话, Jyutping waa2, waa6, Yale wa2, wa6)

---

Japanese

Kanji

話

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• On: わ (wa), かい (kai)
• Kun: はなす (話す, hanasu), はなし (hanashi)

Derived terms

• 話す (はなす, hanasu): to speak
• 電話 (でんわ, denwa): a telephone
• 電話を切る (でんわをきる, denwa o kiru): to hang up

Noun

話 (hiragana はなし, romaji hanashi)

1. talking; speaking; speech; conversation
2. a topic; a subject; that which is spoken about
3. rumors; rumours
4. negotiation; consultation; discussion
5. lecture; speech; narrative; story

Alternative forms

• 話し
• 噺

---

Korean

Hanja

話 (hwa)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 화 (revised: hwa, McCune-Reischauer: hwa, Yale: hwa)

• Name (hangeul): 말할()

---

Mandarin

Hanzi

話 (simplified 话, Pinyin huà (hua4), Wade-Giles hua⁴)

Compounds

• 白話
• 電話
• 行話 (háng huà)
• 隱話 (yǐn huà)
• 黑話 (hēi huà)
• 行話
• 俗話
• 廢話
• 話說
• 話梅

---

Vietnamese

Han character

話 (thoại)