聂 (Niè) · Nie (Chinese surname), to whisper (literary, rare)

Meanings

1 Nie (Chinese surname)
2 to whisper (literary, rare)

Characters

聂

niè

surname; to whisper (archaic)

Examples

HSK 4

聂耳是中国著名的音乐家。

Niè Ěr shì Zhōngguó zhùmíng de yīnyuèjiā.

Nie Er was a famous Chinese musician.

HSK 7-9

聂是一个比较少见的姓氏。

Niè shì yī gè bǐjiào shǎojiàn de xìngshì.

Nie is a relatively rare surname.

Tips

memory

The traditional form 聶 shows three 耳 (ear) characters stacked - visually suggesting whispering into ears.

Components

radical

耳 ěr

ear

Ear radical on top, the indexing component. Pictograph of a human ear with outer rim and lobe. The traditional 聶 stacked three 耳 - three ears leaning in to listen - to picture whispering. The simplified 聂 keeps only the top ear and replaces the lower pair with 双.

semantic

双 shuāng

pair; two

Bottom 双 'pair' is a simplified stand-in for the doubled 耳-耳 of the traditional 聶. It preserves the picture of multiple ears bent together, but uses two hands (双 = 又+又) as a compact shortcut. The whispering sense survives mainly in literary use; today 聂 lives as a surname.