劈啪 (pī pā) — (onomatopoeia) sound of crackling, slapping, clapping, snapping, or clattering

Definition

Onomatopoeia for sharp, short cracking or clapping sounds — think fire crackling, rain pattering, or hands clapping. Often reduplicated as 劈劈啪啪.

onomatopoeia
sound of cracklingslappingclappingsnappingor clattering
Easily confused

Examples

  • 劈啪。
    Bì lú lǐ de mù tou shāo dé pī pā zuò xiǎng.
    The wood in the fireplace was crackling.
  • ，劈啪。
    Yǔ shuǐ dǎ zài chuāng hu shàng, fā chū pī pā de shēng yīn.
    The raindrops hit the window, making a pattering sound.
  • ，劈啪。
    Tā pāi le liǎng xià shǒu zhǎng, pī pā liǎng shēng gé wài qīng cuì.
    He clapped his hands twice, and the two sharp claps were especially crisp.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
拟声nǐshēngOnomatopoeia

The characters imitate a sound; their individual meanings play no part.

劈pī
啪pā

The characters 劈 and 啪 here carry no separate meaning; together they imitate a crackling or slapping sound.

Sound-only characters

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
刀刀dāoknife
Sound part声符shēngfú
辟
辟pì劈pī
Same sound today

劈 combines 辟, which gives the sound pì, with 刀, a knife, for cutting or splitting.

Open 劈 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 啪 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.