囔 (nāng): (in 嘟囔) to mutter; to grumble u…

Meanings

他嘴里一直嘟囔着，谁也听不清。

Tā zuǐlǐ yìzhí dūnang zhe, shéi yě tīngbuqīng.

He kept muttering to himself, but no one could make out what he said.

别在那儿嘟囔，有话大声说。

Bié zài nàr dūnang, yǒu huà dàshēng shuō.

Don't grumble there, just say it out loud if you have something to say.

usage

囔 only appears in 嘟囔 (to mutter, grumble), describing low, unclear, often complaining speech. The 囔 syllable is usually toneless in the word.

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

The mouth radical 口 on the left marks this as a speech sound, here the low indistinct mumbling of 嘟囔.

phonetic

囊 náng

bag; pouch (here phonetic)

Right side 囊 (sack) supplies the sound, near-identical to nāng apart from tone. It is the phonetic element here.

囔 nāng