cēng
interjection #32,723

Meanings

  1. 1 whoosh!
  2. 2 to scold

Examples

Tā cēng de yíxià tiào shàng le qiáng.
He leapt onto the wall with a whoosh.
Máquè cēng de yì shēng fēi zǒu le.
The sparrow flew away with a whoosh.
Bàba cēng le tā yí dùn.
Dad gave him a scolding.

Tips

usage
is mainly the onomatopoeia "whoosh!" — typically in the pattern 一声 / 一下 to describe a rapid motion: someone darting off, a flame igniting, a bird taking flight. The "scold" sense is colloquial Northern speech.
memory
The (mouth) radical signals a sound word. Read with second tone, appears in 噌吰, the resonant clang of bells, made famous by Su Shi.

Components

radical
kǒu
mouth
Left mouth radical signals that is a sound-related character — an onomatopoeia or vocal noise. The mouth radical commonly indexes interjections and sound-effect words such as , , and .
phonetic
céng
once; formerly
Right supplies the sound — céng kept almost intact in (with a first-tone shift). The same phonetic appears in (increase), (give), and (scrape against).

Stroke Order

cēng