咕嘟 (gū dū) — to simmer or boil for a long time (esp. of liquids); to purse one's lips (e.g., in displeasure or to make a sound)

Definition

Onomatopoeic verb: 咕嘟 covers both the bubbling sound/long simmering of liquids and the action of pursing one's lips. The two senses are unrelated — pick by context.

verb
to simmer or boil for a long time (esp. of liquids)to purse one's lips (e.g., in displeasure or to make a sound)

Examples

  • 咕嘟。
    Tāng zài guō lǐ gū dū le yí shàng wǔ.
    The soup simmered in the pot all morning.
  • 咕嘟，。
    Bǎ ròu gū dū yí xià, huì gèng rù wèi.
    Let the meat simmer a bit; it will be more flavorful.
  • 咕嘟，。
    Tā gū dū zhe zuǐ, hěn bù gāo xìng.
    He pursed his lips, very unhappy.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
拟声nǐshēngOnomatopoeia

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

咕gū
嘟dū

咕 and 嘟 imitate the bubbling or pursed-lip sound; the characters do not carry independent meanings here.

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kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ咕gū
Same sound today

咕 combines 口 (mouth) with 古, which provides the sound. The 口 part points to mouth sounds, such as clucking or cooing.

Open 咕 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 嘟 →

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