sōu
interjection #21,815

Meanings

  1. 1 whoosh
  2. 2 swish
  3. 3 zoom (onomatopoeia for something moving fast)

Examples

Yī zhī jiàn sōu de fēi le guòqù.
An arrow whooshed past.
Nà liàng chē sōu de yī shēng kāizǒu le.
The car zoomed away with a whoosh.
Zǐdàn sōusōu de cóngtóu dǐng fēiguò.
Bullets whizzed past overhead.

Tips

usage
is an onomatopoeic word used to describe the sound of something moving very fast through the air. It often appears in the pattern or (with a whoosh). Reduplication 嗖嗖 suggests repeated or continuous fast movement.

Components

radical
kǒu
mouth
Left mouth radical — used across nearly every onomatopoeia in the language to flag 'this character represents a sound.' Same role in , , , , . Without it, is just 'old man'; with it, the character names the whoosh of something flying past.
phonetic
sǒu
old man (here phonetic)
Right supplies the sound — sǒu → sōu, tone change only. The 'old man' meaning is irrelevant; pure phonetic borrowing. Same phonetic appears in (spoiled), (rustling wind), (boat measure word) — a small but consistent sōu/sǒu family.

Stroke Order

sōu