叮咚 (dīng dōng) — (onomatopoeia) ding-dong (ringing of a doorbell or phone); (onomatopoeia) jingling sound (of small bells, coins, etc.)

Definition

Onomatopoeia for a clear, ringing sound — a doorbell, phone notification, or the jingling of small bells or coins. Often reduplicated as 叮叮咚咚 for repeated or ongoing sound.

onomatopoeia
ding-dong (ringing of a doorbell or phone)jingling sound (of small bells, coins, etc.)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 叮咚，。
    Tīng dào dīng dōng yī shēng, tā mǎ shàng qù kāi mén.
    Hearing a ding-dong, she immediately went to open the door.
  • 叮咚。
    Shǒu jī fā chū dīng dōng de tí shì yīn.
    The phone made a ding-dong notification sound.
  • 叮咚。
    Fēng líng zài fēng zhōng fā chū qīng cuì de dīng dōng shēng.
    The wind chime made a crisp tinkling sound in the wind.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
拟声nǐshēngOnomatopoeia

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

叮dīng
咚dōng

The characters 叮咚 together imitate a ringing or clanking sound and do not carry separate meanings.

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
口口kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng叮dīng
Same sound today

叮 combines 口, the mouth, with 丁, which gives the sound.

Open 叮 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 咚 →

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