嗤 (chī) · to sneer at, to jeer, to scoff

Meanings

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

Characters

嗤

chī

to sneer, to jeer

Examples

HSK 4

大家都嗤笑他的奇怪想法。

Dàjiā dōu chīxiào tā de qíguài xiǎngfǎ.

Everyone sneered at his strange ideas.

HSK 7-9

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.

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

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.