聒 (guō): raucous

Meanings

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

Characters

聒

guō

noisy / clamorous

Examples

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.

孩子们聒噪了一整天。

Háizi men guōzào le yīzhěngtiān.

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.