嗡嗡 (wēng wēng) — (onomatopoeia) buzz, drone, hum | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Onomatopoeia for a low, continuous sound — like a bee, an engine, or a room full of murmuring voices. Usually reduplicated as 嗡嗡地 + verb or as a 嗡嗡的 + noun modifier.

onomatopoeia

buzzdronehum

Examples

嗡嗡嗡嗡。
Yì zhī mì fēng zài ěr biān wēng wēng wēng wēng de fēi guò.
A bee buzzed past my ear.
嗡嗡嗡嗡，。
Kōng tiáo yì zhí wēng wēng wēng wēng xiǎng, chǎo dé wǒ shuì bù zháo.
The air conditioner kept droning, making it impossible for me to sleep.
嗡嗡嗡嗡。
Huì yì shì lǐ yí piàn wēng wēng wēng wēng de tǎo lùn shēng.
The meeting room was filled with the buzz of discussion.

Origin

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

拟声nǐshēngOnomatopoeia

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

嗡嗡 repeats 嗡 to imitate a continuous buzz or hum; 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.

口翁嗡

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

翁

翁wēng嗡wēng

Same sound today

嗡 shows 口 (mouth) next to 翁, which gives the sound wēng.

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

口翁嗡

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

翁

翁wēng嗡wēng

Same sound today

嗡 shows 口 (mouth) next to 翁, which gives the sound wēng.

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