啜 (chuò) · to sip, to drink in small mouthfuls, to sob

Meanings

1 to sip
2 to drink in small mouthfuls
3 to sob

Characters

啜

chuò

to sip; to sob

Examples

HSK 7-9

她慢慢地啜着热茶，享受宁静的午后。

Tā mànmàn de chuò zhe rèchá, xiǎngshòu níngjìng de wǔhòu.

She slowly sipped her hot tea, enjoying the quiet afternoon.

HSK 7-9

孩子在角落里低声啜泣。

Háizi zài jiǎoluò lǐ dīshēng chuòqì.

The child sobbed softly in the corner.

Tips

usage

啜 is a literary or elevated word for sipping. In everyday speech, 喝 is more common. 啜泣 is the standard term for sobbing.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Left mouth radical - the indexing element. The radical states the action plainly: sipping, sucking, and sobbing are all things the mouth does. Puts 啜 in the mouth-action family with 喝 (drink), 吸 (inhale), 吮 (suck), 噙 (hold in mouth), 咽 (swallow). The radical carries the meaning, the right side carries the sound.

phonetic

叕 zhuó

to join; connect

Right 叕 supplies the sound - zhuó drifting to chuò through the regular z/ch palatalisation. 叕 is the rare graph depicting four 又 (right hands) interconnected, the original form behind 缀 (sew together) and 辍 (interrupt). Same phonetic series gathers join-and-stop meanings. For 啜 the connecting picture suits: the lips repeatedly closing on the rim of a cup as one sips.