Definition
悔 (huǐ) is a bound morpheme — it cannot stand alone as a word but appears as a component in compounds. Its most common meaning is 'regret' or 'repent', found in words like 后悔 (hòuhuǐ, to regret), 懊悔 (àohuǐ, to feel remorse), and 悔改 (huǐgǎi, to repent and change). A second, highly specialized sense refers to the 'outer trigram' in Yijing (I Ching) hexagram divination, used only in technical discussions of the 八卦。In most everyday contexts, you'll encounter 悔 in verbs and nouns related to regret.
b.f.
(bound form, in verbs and nouns) regretrepent — used in compounds like 后悔 and 悔改(bound form, in Yijing) outer trigram of a hexagram
Examples
- 。Wǒ cónglái méiyǒu hòuhuǐ guò zìjǐ de xuǎnzé.I have never regretted my choices.
- 。Tā duì zìjǐ shuō guò de huǎnghuà gǎndào àohuǐ.He felt remorse for the lies he told.
- ，。Zhǐyào zhēnxīn huǐ gǎi, jiù hái yǒu jīhuì.As long as you genuinely repent and change, there's still a chance.
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