Recorded in the late-Qing novel
《二十年目睹之怪现状》 (Twenty Years of Witnessing Strange Things, by Wu Jianren), in which a young widow 'covered her face and cried out, then broke into great mournful wailing'. The four characters
大 -
放 -
悲 -
声 form a vivid action sequence: 'big - release - grief - sound'.
