It it acceptable to use 喂! when answering the phone in China? I was watching an episode of 大耳朵图图 and the phone rang and 图图妈妈 answered the phone. I am almost certain she said 喂 but I need to know if I

Asiyah

It it acceptable to use 喂! when answering the phone in China? I was watching an episode of 大耳朵图图 and the phone rang and 图图妈妈 answered the phone. I am almost certain she said 喂 but I need to know if I have the right chinese character and if it is correct greeting. Phonetically it sounds like the English word 'way' and the closest I was able to get using pinyin is 'wei' which took me forever to figure out after tinkering with several pinyin combinations.

Jun 16, 2013 5:02 AM

Answers · 13

‘喂？‘’’is xclusive language answer . Not “喂！”

June 16, 2013

it is exactely what you heard. “喂喂喂” is concerning common word to asnwered on phone also, to call s.o. on the street instead of calling their names.

June 16, 2013

Yes, what you figured out is exactly right. Here, the character "喂" is onomatopoeic, just for greeting, like the word "hello" in English, and doesn't have the common meaning of this character.

June 19, 2013