啜 (chuò): to sip

Meanings

1 to sip
2 to drink in small mouthfuls
3 to sob

Characters

啜

chuò

to sip; to sob

Examples

她慢慢地啜着热茶，享受宁静的午后。

Tā mànmàn de chuò zhe rèchá, xiǎngshòu níngjìng de wǔhòu.

She slowly sipped her hot tea, enjoying the quiet afternoon.

孩子在角落里低声啜泣。

Háizi zài jiǎoluò lǐ dīshēng chuòqì.

The child sobbed softly in the corner.

Tips

usage

啜 is a literary or elevated word for sipping. In everyday speech, 喝 is more common. 啜泣 is the standard term for sobbing.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Left mouth radical - the indexing element. The radical states the action plainly: sipping, sucking, and sobbing are all things the mouth does. Puts 啜 in the mouth-action family with 喝 (drink), 吸 (inhale), 吮 (suck), 噙 (hold in mouth), 咽 (swallow). The radical carries the meaning, the right side carries the sound.

phonetic

叕 zhuó

to join; connect

Right 叕 supplies the sound - zhuó drifting to chuò through the regular z/ch palatalisation. 叕 is the rare graph depicting four 又 (right hands) interconnected, the original form behind 缀 (sew together) and 辍 (interrupt). Same phonetic series gathers join-and-stop meanings. For 啜 the connecting picture suits: the lips repeatedly closing on the rim of a cup as one sips.