A container and its lid

 

Pinyin	huì ; kuài
Meaning	huì: to meet; to get together; meeting; to know how to; can; will (do) kuài: accountant
Radical	人	繁體字	會

	人
	二

writing patterns, not components

category: compound ideograph

structure: up down

6stroke count

HSK 1

Breakdown

会 (huì) “to meet” is formed by the radical 人 (rén) “person” on the top and 云 (yún) “cloud” at the bottom. However, these two elements are not semantic. 云 is a substitute for an obsolete part that represents a container, and 人 is the lid. The meaning “to meet” comes from the lid placed on top of the container, “meeting” the container. Today, 会 (huì) can also be used to express abilities and willingness, and when it is pronounced as (kuài), it can be a morpheme that signifies “accountant.”

Used as a morpheme/word

会 can be used alone as a word, but only when it means “will” and “can (to know how to).” Otherwise, it is used as a morpheme.

How to pronounce

huì

(Huì) sounds like “who wait” spoken in one syllable, but the wh is pronounced like the Scottish ch, as in “loch,” and the t is omitted.

kuài

(Kuài) sounds like the connected k-why of “ask why.”