响

響
xiǎng
adjective HSK 4 #1,855

Meanings

  1. 1 loud
  2. 2 to sound
  3. 3 to ring

Examples

HSK 1
Diànhuà xiǎng le.
The phone is ringing.
HSK 3
Shēngyīn tài xiǎng le.
The sound is too loud.
HSK 5
Ménlíng xiǎng le.
The doorbell rang.

Components

radical
口 kǒu
mouth
Left mouth - the indexing radical. Anchors 响 as a vocal or sonic event: a sound is something coming out of a mouth or opening. From there came the modern senses to make a sound, to ring out, and the noun echo (响声 sound, 响应 to respond). Same vocal family: 叫, 喊, 唱, 吵.
phonetic
向 xiàng
toward; window opening
Right 向 supplies the sound (xiàng → xiǎng, just a tone shift) and adds a fitting visual hook: 向 originally pictured a window opening through which sound travels outward. The traditional form 響 had 音 (sound) under 鄉 (village); the simplified 响 keeps only the mouth + window-opening, a much leaner phono-semantic compound.

Stroke Order

响 xiǎng