Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced kai
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced kai, including 开 kāi, 凯 kǎi, 慨 kǎi. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words, and example sentences.
How to Pronounce This Syllable
kai opens with a clear puff of air on k; let that breath lead into ai and settle the tone across the syllable.
Initial k
Start the syllable on the initial k, then run straight into the final ai — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final ai
Settle the final ai into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (开 kāi, 凯 kǎi, 慨 kǎi) and lock in their tones. 3 common characters share the sound kai, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
kai turns up here with 2 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 开 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 凯, 慨 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing kai inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
3 common characters in this group.