啾啾 (jiū jiū) — (onomatopoeia) chirp, chirp (birds); (onomatopoeia) piteous cry (small animals)

Definition

Onomatopoeia for small high-pitched sounds: a bird's chirp, or a piteous cry from a kitten, puppy, etc. Usually reduplicated in the same line as the verb 叫.

onomatopoeia
chirpchirp (birds)piteous cry (small animals)

Examples

  • 啾啾。
    Shù shàng chuán lái xiǎo niǎo jiū jiū de jiào shēng.
    The chirping of little birds came from the tree.
  • 啾啾，。
    Wǒ tīng dào jǐ shēng jiū jiū, yuán lái shì xiǎo māo zài zhǎo mā ma.
    I heard a few piteous cries — it turned out to be a kitten looking for its mother.
  • 啾啾。
    Chuāng wài de má què zhěng tiān jiū jiū dì jiào zhe.
    The sparrows outside the window chirp all day long.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
叠音diéyīnRepeated syllable

One syllable written twice as a single unit of meaning; neither half stands alone.

啾jiū
啾jiū

The doubled 啾啾 imitates a chirp or piteous cry; the characters carry no meaning of their own 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kǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
秋
秋qiū啾
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

啾 pairs 口 (mouth) with 秋, which gives the sound.

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
秋
秋qiū啾
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

啾 pairs 口 (mouth) with 秋, which gives the sound.

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