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啰唆 (luō suo) — (adjective) verbose, long-winded, talkative; (verb) to talk too much, to nag, to be fussy

Definition

啰唆 describes speech or a person as verbose and repetitious, often with a nagging tone. 唠叨 is close but focuses more on repeatedly nagging someone; 冗长 is more formal and applies to writing.

adjective
verboselong-windedtalkative
verb
to talk too muchto nagto be fussy

Examples

  • 啰唆，。
    Tā shuō huà zǒng shì zhè me luō suo, méi rén yuàn yì tīng.
    He always talks so long-windedly that no one wants to listen.
  • 啰唆，。
    Bié luō suo le, zhí jiē shuō zhòng diǎn.
    Stop being verbose, just get to the point.
  • 啰唆。
    Mā ma yòu kāi shǐ duì wǒ luō suo le.
    Mom started nagging me again.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

啰luō
唆suō

The characters 啰 and 唆 carry no separate meaning here; together they describe verbose talk.

Sound-only characters

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 囉; 啰 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
羅
羅luó囉
Same sound today

The traditional form 囉 has 口 (mouth) beside 羅, which supplies the sound; the simplified 啰 is a shorthand, so its right side is not 羅.

Open 啰 →

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
夋
夋qūn唆suō
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left part 口 shows a mouth, and the right part 夋 was chosen for its sound.

Open 唆 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 6Communication & SpeechPersonality & Traits

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