嗤 (chī): to sneer at

Meanings

1 to sneer at
2 to jeer
3 to scoff
4 to laugh at contemptuously

Characters

嗤

chī

to sneer, to jeer (mouth radical + phonetic)

Examples

他嗤之以鼻，根本不相信这个说法。

Tā chīzhīyǐbí, gēnběn bù xiāngxìn zhège shuōfǎ.

He sneered dismissively and didn't believe this claim at all.

大家都嗤笑他的奇怪想法。

Dàjiā dōu chīxiào tā de qíguài xiǎngfǎ.

Everyone sneered at his strange ideas.

Tips

usage

嗤 most commonly appears in the idiom 嗤之以鼻 (to sneer at something, literally: to sniff at it through the nose). It is rarely used alone in modern Chinese.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Left-side mouth radical, three strokes. Anchors 嗤 as a sound made by the mouth — specifically a derisive snort or scoff, the dismissive 'hmph' that pushes through pursed lips. Same sound-family: 哈 (haha laugh), 嘿 (hey), 呸 (spit-sound of disgust). 嗤之以鼻 (snort with the nose) is the canonical idiom.

phonetic

蚩 chī

stupid; insect-like (here phonetic)

Right side 蚩 supplies the sound — exact chī. Originally 蚩 was the name of a legendary horned warrior 蚩尤 and also meant 'foolish.' Pure phonetic in 嗤, but the 'foolish' undertone fits the dismissive sense — the snort is directed at something considered laughably stupid.