嗖

sōu
interjection #21,815

Meanings

  1. 1 whoosh
  2. 2 swish
  3. 3 zoom

Examples

HSK 3
Nà liàng chē sōu de yī shēng kāizǒu le.
The car zoomed away with a whoosh.
HSK 6
Yī zhī jiàn sōu de fēi le guòqù.
An arrow whooshed past.
HSK 7-9
Zǐdàn sōusōu de cóng tóudǐng fēiguò.
Bullets whizzed past overhead.

Tips

usage
嗖 is an onomatopoeic word used to describe the sound of something moving very fast through the air. It often appears in the pattern 嗖地 or 嗖的一声 (with a whoosh). Reduplication 嗖嗖 suggests repeated or continuous fast movement.

Components

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

Stroke Order

嗖 sōu