私语 (sī yǔ) — to whisper; to have a private conversation in l… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

verb

to whisperto have a private conversation in low voices

Examples

私语。
Tā men zài jiǎo luò lǐ qiāo qiāo sī yǔ.
They whispered quietly in the corner.
，私语。
Wǎn yàn shàng, tā men sī yǔ zhe gè zì de mì mì.
At the dinner party, they whispered each other's secrets.
私语。
sī yǔ Shì qīn mì guān xì zhōng de cháng jiàn xíng wéi.
Whispering is a common behavior in intimate relationships.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

私sīprivate

语yǔspeech

'私' private and '语' speech combine to mean whisper or private talk.

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.

禾厶私

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

厶

厶sī私sī

Same sound today

私 combines 禾 and 厶; 厶 originally represented the word, and 禾 was added later.

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 語; 语 is its simplified writing.

言吾語

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

吾

吾wú語yǔ

Same sound today

The form 語 pairs 言 (speech) with 吾, which gives the sound; this note is about 語, not 语.

Appears in

Communication & Speech

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