吒 (zhà): to bellow; to shout angrily

Meanings

将军叱吒风云，威震一时。

Jiāngjūn chìzhà fēngyún, wēizhèn yìshí.

The general dominated the battlefield, a commanding presence of his time.

他曾是商界叱吒风云的人物。

Tā céng shì shāngjiè chìzhà fēngyún de rénwù.

He was once a dominant figure in the business world.

usage

Read 吒 (a variant of 咤) only in the set idiom 叱吒风云 (to be all-powerful, to dominate one's era). The legendary-name reading is zhā instead.

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

The mouth radical 口 on the left is typical of characters used for sounds and exclamations, which is the original role of this character.

phonetic

乇 tuō

to entrust; a leaf stalk

On the right 乇 supplies the sound, shifted to zhā here. It carries no meaning in this character.

吒 zhà