He wept silently, not letting anyone see his tears.
Tips
usage
泣 describes crying that is quiet and internalized — soft sobbing, often suppressed. It contrasts with 哭 (kū), which is open crying or weeping, and 号啕 (háotáo), which is loud wailing. 泣不成声 (choked with sobs, unable to speak) is a common idiom.
Three-stroke water radical on the left, side form of 水. 泣 means to weep silently — water imagery for tears running down the face. The radical anchors 泣 alongside 泪 tear, 涕 mucus tear, 滴 drop, 涌 to surge — liquid-from-the-body chars.
Right side 立 supplies the sound — lì shifting to qì through an old reading. There is a faint semantic echo: 立 pictures a person standing fixed, and silent weeping is the still kind — tears falling while the body stands rooted. Same phonetic in 粒 grain.
