回忆
to recall; memory; recollection
HSK level
- Pinyin
- huíyì
- Part of speech
- verb
- Level
- HSK 4
- Strokes
- 10
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 段 / 些
- In episodes
- 1
Stroke order for 回忆
回忆 is written with 10 strokes (回: 6, 忆: 4). The animation replays automatically.
What does 回忆 mean?
回忆 (huíyì) is both a verb, to recall or reminisce, and a noun, a memory or recollection.
As a verb it means to actively bring the past back to mind: 回忆童年 'reminisce about childhood.' As a noun it names the remembered experiences themselves: 美好的回忆 'beautiful memories.' The key difference from English is that 回忆 refers specifically to recollections of lived personal experience — nostalgic, episodic memory — not the general faculty of memory (that's 记忆 jìyì) nor remembering a fact or to-do item (that's 记得 jìde).
So you 回忆 your college days, but you 记得 someone's phone number. Register is neutral and slightly warm, common in speech, writing, and song lyrics. Compare 想起 (to suddenly recall something specific) and 记忆 (memory as a capacity or storage).
Character by character
Memory hook: 回 (return) + 忆 (remember) — your mind returns to remember the past.
Hear 回忆 in real episodes
回忆 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
他们的口味名字也都带着回忆的味道，有一个甚至直接用了他从小生活的那条街的名字。
Their flavour names carry that same memory, and one of them takes its name directly from the street he grew up on.
Snoop Dogg Will Pay Someone $10,000 a Month to Eat Ice Cream — and It Started on His Father's Dairy FarmIntermediate
Example sentences
这首歌让我回忆起了大学生活。
Zhè shǒu gē ràng wǒ huíyì qǐ le dàxué shēnghuó.
This song makes me reminisce about college life.
spoken
那是我童年最美好的回忆。
Nà shì wǒ tóngnián zuì měihǎo de huíyì.
That's the most beautiful memory of my childhood.
neutral
老人常常回忆年轻时的日子。
Lǎorén chángcháng huíyì niánqīng shí de rìzi.
Old people often reminisce about their younger days.
neutral
他在书中回忆了自己坎坷的一生。
Tā zài shū zhōng huíyì le zìjǐ kǎnkě de yìshēng.
In the book, he recalls his rough and difficult life.
written
Common phrases with 回忆
Synonyms
记忆 is memory as a faculty or stored content ('good memory,' 'memory storage'). 回忆 is the act of reminiscing or a specific nostalgic recollection. You improve your 记忆; you cherish a 回忆.
想起 means to suddenly recall or think of something specific, often involuntarily. 回忆 is a deliberate, sustained looking-back. You 想起 a name; you 回忆 an era.
Don't confuse 回忆 with
FAQ
Related words from the same episodes
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