嘈 (cáo): noisy

Meanings

市场里太嘈杂，听不清对方说什么。

Shìchǎng li tài cáozá, tīng bùqīng duìfāng shuō shénme.

The market was so noisy you couldn't hear what the other person was saying.

窗外传来一片嘈杂的人声。

Chuāngwài chuánlái yí piàn cáozá de rénshēng.

A clamor of voices came from outside the window.

usage

嘈 is bound, used mainly in 嘈杂 (嘈杂, 'noisy, clamorous'), describing a confused mix of loud sounds, especially many voices at once.

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

口 is the mouth radical. The noise here is the clamor of many mouths talking at once, so the mouth radical carries the 'din of voices' sense.

phonetic

曹 cáo

a group; phonetic

曹 supplies the sound cáo directly. Its sense of 'a crowd / group' also faintly suits the picture of many people making noise together.

嘈 cáo