喃 (nán): to mutter

Meanings

他低声喃喃地说着什么。

Tā dīshēng nánnán de shuō zhe shénme.

He muttered something to himself in a low voice.

屋檐下的燕子呢喃细语。

Wūyán xià de yànzi nínán xìyǔ.

The pair of swallows twittered softly under the eaves.

usage

喃 is reduplicated in 喃喃 (to mutter under one's breath) and appears in 呢喃 (soft murmuring, or the twitter of swallows). It is rarely used alone.

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

The mouth radical. 喃 is a low, mumbled sound made with the mouth, so the mouth radical marks it as a kind of speech or vocal noise.

phonetic

南 nán

south

Pure sound: standalone 南 is nán and 喃 keeps the reading exactly. The "south" meaning does not enter the word, only the pronunciation.

喃 nán