哗啦啦 (huā lā lā) — (onomatopoeia) the sound of rushing water, heavy rain, wind-blown leaves, or objects crashing down

Definition

Onomatopoeia for a loud, continuous rushing or crashing sound — heavy rain, wind in leaves, or things falling. It often reduplicates as 哗啦哗啦 for a longer, ongoing noise, and pairs with 地 to modify a verb (响).

onomatopoeia
the sound of rushing waterheavy rainwind-blown leavesor objects crashing down

Examples

  • ，哗啦啦。
    Chuāng wài xià zhe dà yǔ, huā lā lā dì xiǎng le yì zhěng yè.
    It was raining heavily outside, and the sound of rain went on all night.
  • ，哗啦啦。
    Tā bǎ shū cóng shū jià shàng tuī xià lái, huā lā lā diào le yí dì.
    He pushed the books off the shelf, and they came crashing down all over the floor.
  • ，哗啦啦。
    Fēng chuī guò shù lín, shù yè huā lā lā dì xiǎng.
    The wind blew through the woods, and the leaves rustled loudly.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
拟声nǐshēngOnomatopoeia

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

哗huá
啦lā
啦lā

The characters 哗啦啦 carry no meaning of their own here; the whole word imitates a rushing or crashing sound.

Sound-only characters

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 哗 →

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kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
拉
拉lā啦la
Same sound today

啦 pairs 口 (mouth) with 拉, which gives the pronunciation lā. The 口 part points to the mouth.

Open 啦 →

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kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
拉
拉lā啦la
Same sound today

啦 pairs 口 (mouth) with 拉, which gives the pronunciation lā. The 口 part points to the mouth.

Open 啦 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.