咳嗽 késou to cough
How to remember 咳嗽: 咳 to cough + 嗽 cough = to cough.
Characters
How it is used
- A verb naming the action itself, no object needed - 他一直咳嗽 (tā yìzhí késou) he keeps coughing.
- Read qiú in old dictionaries for the second character but modern usage is always késou; 咳 alone (hāi/ké) can mean "cough" or, as an interjection hāi, "ugh/hey".
- Common in health contexts alongside 感冒 (cold) and 发烧 (fever) - 咳嗽得很厉害 (késou de hěn lìhai) coughing badly.
- Learners sometimes wrongly split it like an English verb+noun; it's a fixed two-character verb, not 咳 + 嗽 used separately.
Example sentences
- 我咳嗽。 Wǒ késòu.I have a cough.
- 她有点咳嗽。 Tā yǒudiǎn késou.She has a little cough.
- 我咳嗽，还有点发烧。 Wǒ késòu, hái yǒudiǎn fāshāo.I have a cough and a little fever.