哽 (gěng): to choke with emotion

Meanings

他哽得说不下去了。

Tā gěng

He choked up and could not finish speaking.

她读着信，哽咽起来。

Gěng

She read the letter and choked with sobs.

usage

哽 almost always appears in 哽咽, to be so choked with emotion that words catch in the throat. It can also mean to choke physically on a piece of food.

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

The mouth radical 口 fixes the meaning at the throat and mouth: the place where words or food catch when one chokes up.

phonetic

更 gèng

more; to change

更 supplies the sound, shifted from gèng to gěng. It is the phonetic element here, the same one in 梗 and 硬.

哽 gěng