聒 (guō) · raucous, noisy, clamorous (in an annoying way)

Meanings

1 raucous
2 noisy
3 clamorous (in an annoying way)

Characters

聒

guō

noisy / clamorous

Examples

HSK 7-9

蝉声聒耳，让人难以入睡。

Chán shēng guō ěr, ràng rén nányǐ rùshuì.

The cicadas' din grates on the ears, making it hard to sleep.

HSK 7-9

孩子们聒噪了一整天。

Háizi men guōzào le yìzhěngtiān.

The children were noisy and clamorous all day.

Tips

memory

聒 = 耳 (ear) + 舌 (tongue). A tongue rattling at your ears - that's noise that won't shut up.

register

Bound morpheme - you'll see it almost exclusively in compounds: 聒噪 ('noisy / clamorous'), 聒耳 ('grating on the ears').

Components

radical

耳 ěr

ear

Ear radical on the left, the indexing component. Pictograph of a human ear, drawn with the outer rim and earlobe still visible. It places 聒 in the hearing family - 听 listen, 聋 deaf, 聪 sharp-eared - but here the ear is on the receiving end of unwanted noise.

semantic

舌 shé

tongue

Right side 舌 'tongue' joins the meaning rather than the sound. Ear + tongue = a tongue clamouring at your ear - exactly what 聒 means. The classic compound 聒噪 captures it: chattering noise that won't let your ears rest. A pure compound-ideograph, no phonetic role.