happy; glad
HSK level
高兴 is written with 16 strokes (高: 10, 兴: 6). The animation replays automatically.
高兴 (gāoxìng) is the everyday Chinese adjective for 'happy' or 'glad' — specifically, the kind of pleased, cheerful feeling you have in a particular moment.
Unlike English 'happy,' which can describe a whole life ('a happy life'), 高兴 almost always refers to a present mood or a reaction to something good: meeting someone, getting a gift, hearing good news. For 'happy' in the deep, lasting sense — happy marriage, happy childhood — Chinese uses 幸福 (xìngfú) instead.
高兴 functions as both an adjective ('I'm happy') and a verb-like state ('it makes me happy'): 我很高兴, 见到你很高兴 ('nice to meet you,' literally 'meeting you very happy'). Note that the adjective usually takes 很 (hěn) in front in positive statements — 我很高兴, not 我高兴 — even though 很 doesn't really mean 'very' here.
Character by character
Memory hook: 'High mood' — literally 'high-spirits.' Your mood (兴) is high (高), so you're happy.
高兴 appears in 7 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
见到你很高兴。
Jiàndào nǐ hěn gāoxìng.
Nice to meet you.
neutral
今天我很高兴。
Jīntiān wǒ hěn gāoxìng.
I'm really happy today.
spoken
他不高兴，因为下雨了。
Tā bù gāoxìng, yīnwèi xià yǔ le.
He's not happy because it's raining.
neutral
妈妈听了很高兴。
Māma tīng le hěn gāoxìng.
Mom was very happy to hear it.
neutral
开心 ('happy / cheerful') is more casual and emotionally warm than 高兴. Use 开心 with friends, in casual chat, and in playful contexts. 高兴 is slightly more neutral and works in any register.
快乐 means 'joyful / happy' in a broader, often longer-lasting way. Holiday greetings use 快乐 (生日快乐, 新年快乐), not 高兴. 高兴 is a momentary feeling; 快乐 is a state.
幸福 is the deep, life-level happiness — happy marriage, happy life. Don't use 高兴 for that meaning; it would sound trivial.
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