啧啧 (zé zé) — (onomatopoeia) click of the tongue; a sound exp…

Definition

啧啧 (zé zé) is an onomatopoeia in Chinese: it represents the clicking of the tongue to show admiration, praise, or envy. In literary writing it can also imitate birds chirping.

onomatopoeia

click of the tonguea sound expressing admirationpraiseor envy(onomatopoeia, literary) chirping of birds

Examples

，啧啧：“！”
Tā kàn le kàn nà fú huà, zé zé chēng zàn dào: "zhēn piào liang!"
He looked at the painting and clicked his tongue in praise: “Truly beautiful!”
，啧啧。
Péng you men tīng shuō tā kǎo shàng le hā fó, dōu zé zé xiàn mù bù yǐ.
When her friends heard she got into Harvard, they all clicked their tongues in envy.
，啧啧。
Qīng chén de shù lín lǐ, xiǎo niǎo zài zhī tóu zé zé dì jiào zhe.
In the morning woods, little birds chirped on the branches.

Origin

Reduplicated word

构词法gòucífǎ

重叠chóngdiéReduplication

A syllable said twice — for affection, for softness, or simply because that is how the word is said.

啧zétongue click

The repeated 啧 suggests a series of tongue clicks or admiring sounds.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 嘖; 啧 is its simplified writing.

口責嘖

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

責

責zé嘖zé

Same sound today

The traditional form 嘖 has 口 (mouth) on the left and 責 on the right, with 責 giving the sound; the simplified 啧 is a later abbreviation.

Open 啧 →