大呼小叫 (dà hū xiǎo jiào) — to shout and make a fuss; to yell loudly in a disruptive manner

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

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

呼 uses 口 (mouth) to show exhaling, calling, or shouting, and 乎 gives the sound.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

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

叫 shows a mouth 口 and a sound part 丩. The mouth fits the old sense of shouting.