'喜欢' (xǐ huān) is a verb meaning 'to like' — expressing positive feelings toward people, things, activities, or experiences. Though composed of two characters — 喜 (xǐ), meaning 'joy' or 'happiness', and 欢 (huān), meaning 'pleasure' or 'delight' — together they form a single semantic unit. Neither character is used alone in this sense; the compound is inseparable in modern Mandarin. It conveys mild to strong preference, but not as intense as 爱 (ài, 'to love') or as formal as 钦佩 (qīnpèi, 'to admire').

This verb is commonly used in everyday speech and writing, especially in declarative sentences with subject + 喜欢 + object. It can take nouns ('I like tea'), verbs in their bare form ('She likes swimming'), or even clauses ('They like that he’s honest'). Unlike English, it never takes a gerund ending in -ing — instead, use the verb stem directly (e.g., 吃, not 吃着). It does not require aspect particles like 了 or 过 unless indicating completed or experiential action.