shào
noun #12,821

Meanings

  1. 1 whistle
  2. 2 sentry post
  3. 3 sentinel

Examples

HSK 5
Cáipàn chuī le yī shēng shào.
The referee blew the whistle.
HSK 7-9
Shìbīng zài shào shàng zhàngǎng.
The soldier is standing guard at the sentry post.

Tips

usage
As a whistle: 吹哨 (blow a whistle), 哨子 (whistle, the object). As a guard post: 放哨 (to stand guard), 哨兵 (sentinel).

Components

radical
kǒu
mouth
Left mouth radical - a small square for parted lips. It indexes in the mouth-action family: blow, shout, spurt, call. A is something you put to your mouth to make a sharp sound - a whistle, a sentry's call. The radical commits the meaning to what the lips produce.
phonetic
xiāo
to resemble; small
Right side supplies the sound through drift: xiāo → shào with a sibilant shift and tone change. Same phonetic powers dissolve, sell, slightly, pare, treetop. itself is (small) over ⺼ (flesh) - a faint nod to the small, precise breath behind every whistle.

Stroke Order

shào